Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments. I'm happy you're enjoying this story. It's going to have a total of 9 chapters, btw.

CHAPTER 3

"So what are you going to name them?"

Hoshi pondered Travis' question as they watched the two cats cautiously explore her cabin.

Actually, only the orange one was exploring. The gray-striped one had immediately run under her bunk after being released from the box and refused to come out. Occasionally its black nose would poke out, but any noise or movement sent the nose and its owner back into the shadows.

The orange cat was more adventurous. It had emerged from what was left of the box like royalty, shaking its body as if to remove the dust from traveling, and had proceeded to plod around the room at a leisurely pace, sniffing the furniture and the deck delicately with a pink-tipped nose.

They were the biggest cats Hoshi had ever seen, easily weighing 12 kilograms each. The gray one with black stripes had short hair while the orange tabby had longish fur. The lighter shading around the latter's neck reminded her of a lion's mane. Perhaps the resemblance to the king of the jungle explained its regal bearing, Hoshi thought whimsically.

"The captain said to name them something appropriate," Hoshi said. "To tell you the truth, I hadn't given much thought to names. I was more worried about getting them on board."

"Are they boys or girls, or one of each?" Travis asked from his perch on the edge of Hoshi's desk.

"I didn't get a chance to check," she said dryly. "Phlox can tell me for sure."

Travis shifted on the desk, causing the black nose, which had slowly been poking out farther from under the bunk, to jerk back.

"We'll need to find something better to put them in to take them to sickbay," he said. "They tore up that box too much to hold them now."

"I also need to see about getting food and water bowls and a litter box."

"Better you than me," Travis said with a grin. "We used to have cats on the Horizon. I hated cleaning the litter boxes."

"If you scoop it once a day, it's not so bad," Hoshi said absently as she watched the orange cat disappear into the bathroom. "I suppose it's too much to hope they're trained to use human facilities."

Travis laughed. "I've heard of cats that can do that. Maybe you can train them in your spare time."

The door chimed as she gave him a dubious look. Opening the door, she was surprised to see Trip standing there holding a large metal cage.

"Thought you might like something a little sturdier to take our newest crewmembers to sickbay," he said.

Hoshi stared at him, dumbfounded that he knew about the cats. He gave her a grin to rival the Cheshire cat's and said, "I've been around cats before. Even you can't imitate the sound they make when they're coughin' up a hairball."

"You knew about them on the shuttlepod?" Hoshi asked as she waved him into her cabin. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured you had a good reason for bringing them on board. I also ran into the captain a few minutes ago and he told me," he replied, glancing down as the orange cat rubbed against his legs. "That's not a cat! Cats are supposed to be scrawny and scruffy lookin' and smaller. Would ya look at the size of those feet!"

Hoshi chuckled. "Maybe barnyard cats, but not these two."

Trip set the cage down and was squatting to pet the cat when the door chime sounded again.

"Did you tell anyone else about the cats?" Hoshi asked as she went to the door again.

"Nope," Trip said as he scratched the cat behind the ears, only to have it drop down and roll on its back, all four paws in the air. "Cats don't do this, either. They usually hate havin' their stomachs touched."

"Malcolm!" Hoshi said in surprise as she opened the door.

Malcolm took in the scene in the cabin and smiled. Extending his hand, he said, "I thought perhaps you might need something to feed them."

She inspected the labels on the two cans he handed her. "Tuna!" she said as she gestured for him to enter. "Thank you, but how did you know?"

"You know how polished Trip likes to keep all the equipment," Malcolm said, watching the orange cat wend its way around the engineer's legs. "I saw their reflection on a console screen when you lifted the blanket to quiet them."

Malcolm glanced around. "Where's the other one?" he asked.

"Under the bed," Travis remarked, scooting over to make room for Malcolm to lean up against the desk.

Instead of joining him, Malcolm held out his hand to Hoshi for one of the cans. "If you'll allow me," he said. "Luckily, cats are one thing I'm not allergic to. Hang on to that one so it doesn't come over here, would you, Trip?"

"The one under the bed is a big scaredy cat," Travis said as Malcolm popped open the lid on the tuna. "It's not going to come out from under there."

"Then you aren't familiar with the almost miraculous effect that tuna has on a cat's attitude," Malcolm said, sinking down onto his haunches.

Everyone watched as he held out the can of tuna toward the opening under the bunk. After a few moments, he put it down on the deck and withdrew his hand. As if by magic, the cat's head appeared, its nose twitching furiously as it homed in on the tuna.

"Mew-rowl!" came an indignant cry from the orange cat as it wiggled against Trip's grasp, trying to head for the open container of food as the scent of fish wafted across the cabin.

As if its fellow cat's eagerness was reassurance enough that whatever in the can was harmless, the gray-striped cat took a cautious bite of tuna. It immediately hunched down and started eating quickly.

Hoshi hunted around in one of her desk drawers until she found a small saucer. Wresting the food away from the gray cat, which had put a paw possessively on the rim of the can, she tipped roughly half the tuna onto the saucer. She passed the saucer to Malcolm, who passed it to Trip.

"Here ya go, big fella," Trip said as he put the plate on the floor in front of the now prancing cat. It at once hunkered down and dug in. The gray cat, which had watched the food distribution with suspicion, did the same when the can was placed in front of it again.

"I wonder when they were last fed," Travis said softly as they watched the cats devour the tuna.

Hoshi shrugged. She'd been too appalled at finding the cats in a butcher's stall to think about anything other than rescuing them.

Malcolm, meanwhile, was coaxing the gray cat out. Every few bites or so, Malcolm would reach over and slide the can a little farther away from the bunk. The cat had no choice but to follow if it wanted to keep eating.

When the cat was all the way out, Malcolm switched tactics. He began to gently stroke its neck and shoulders. The first time he did this, the cat flinched and stopped eating, but it resumed eating when Malcolm did nothing more than pet it.

"As soon as they're finished, I need to get them to sickbay," Hoshi said, her gaze switching back and forth between the two cats and the two men hovering over them. She hadn't realized Trip and Malcolm liked cats. It was funny the things you still didn't know about people even after serving with them for a couple of years.

The cats were licking the saucer and can clean when she said, "Tell me, Malcolm, if you knew there were cats on the shuttlepod, why didn't you say anything?"

Malcolm straightened up. "There aren't any regulations about having cats on board," he said.

"I wonder why not," Travis said.

"Starfleet is like any other bureaucracy in some regards, more reactive than proactive. It's probably never come up before," Malcolm said. "And the prohibition in the regulations against live animals is only for alien species."

"But still..." Hoshi said.

Malcolm exchanged a glance with Trip, who goaded him by saying, "Yeah. Why didn't you rat on Hoshi? There may not be anything in the regs about cats on board, but it isn't something I can see you puttin' up with."

Malcolm looked away, but not before Hoshi saw a twinkle in his eyes. He cleared his throat and said, "Considering the captain has a pet, I really didn't think he'd decide against Hoshi keeping the cats. Who am I to argue with authority?"

Trip snickered, which caused the orange cat to stop its after-dinner wash-up and stare at him before getting up and leaning against the engineer's legs.

"I think that one likes you, Trip," Hoshi said with a smile.

"And that one likes Malcolm," Travis said.

Hoshi looked over to see the gray-striped cat rubbing the side of its chin against Malcolm's knee.

"He's marking you," she said.

"I hope this doesn't mean I have to feed him every day from now on," Malcolm said with a touch of his usual asperity.

"I'm not even sure if he is a he," Hoshi said.

She moved over to the cage and opened the door. The clink of the latch caught the cats' attention, and the orange one immediately walked over to investigate. The other stayed where it was, watching carefully. The orange one circled the cage, sniffing it, then climbed inside. It turned around once and sat down, looking at its companion.

To the group's amazement, the gray-striped cat walked over to the cage and climbed in too.

Hoshi leaned down and shut the door to the cage.

"That pretty much tells me they were someone's pets," she said. "They've done this before, and they aren't particularly afraid of a traveling cage."

"Let me get that for ya, Hoshi," Trip said, stepping over. He grunted as he picked up the cage. "I can't believe how heavy these guys are. If I'd known, I'd have brought two cages."

Hoshi and the cats and their entourage made their way out the door and to the turbolift. By now, Hoshi wasn't surprised that the cats went along without complaint. They were obviously well-traveled. She just hoped they weren't put off by an examination from an alien doctor.