CHAPTER 9
Captain Archer contacted the attackers' homeworld and found out that the two attacking vessels had been stolen by a band of thieves. Not very good thieves, either. Their first attempt at robbing a freighter had wound up with their capture, and authorities from their planet were on the way to take them into custody.
Even their attempt to board Enterprise had been bungled, and not just because of the attack cats, as some of the crew were calling them. Confused perhaps by the mess hall being located on the same deck as Engineering, the aliens had beamed there thinking they'd find some important equipment. Instead, they'd found an irate Chef brandishing a frying pan. Chef was still in a snit -- breakfast this morning hadn't been up to his usual high standards.
While Enterprise had sustained little damage in the fight, the attackers had made a mess of the freighter. Enterprise personnel were helping to patch things up so the Southern Cross could make it back to Earth for more extensive repairs.
Hoshi was on her way to the freighter when she passed Jon in the corridor.
"Hoshi! Wait up a minute," Jon called after her.
She turned and looked at him. "Sir?"
"Going to help with repairs?"
"Yes, sir," she said. "One of the hits the Southern Cross took sent a power surge through their communications system. It's pretty much shot."
"I just wanted to tell you... When you brought those cats on board...well, I thought it was a disaster just waiting to happen. I'm happy to be proven wrong."
"I know, sir," she said. At his look of amusement, she hastily added, "I mean you thought they'd cause problems, not that you're happy to be wrong. But even I didn't expect things to turn out the way they did."
"If it weren't for the fact that two of my senior officers told me what those cats did, I'm not sure I'd believe it," Jon said. "But from now on, Warp Core and Torpedo have free run of the ship, no conditions attached. Who knows when we'll need their help again," he added with a rueful smile.
Several hours later, Hoshi wiggled out from under a console on the bridge of the Southern Cross. The internal comm system was working, but she needed to check a few things before the freighter would be able to send and receive messages.
"Is it working?" asked Linda, the wife of the freighter's captain. She was also second-in-command aboard the Southern Cross.
"I think so," Hoshi said, keying in a few test commands on the console. "But I need to run a calibration sequence."
"Why don't we take a break?" the woman said. "How about a cup of tea in the mess?"
Hoshi smiled and nodded. "Sounds good."
They headed off the bridge, Linda talking brightly about life aboard the Southern Cross. As was typical of many freighters, the ship was owned and operated by a family who lived on board.
The family-oriented atmosphere was reinforced when Hoshi and Linda entered the mess. Seated at one of the tables was a young girl about six years old. She was dressed in a bright jumper and her longish brown hair was tied back in pigtails.
She didn't look up when the two women approached her table after getting their tea. The unsmiling girl was engrossed in the picture she was drawing.
"This is my daughter, Hannah," said Linda. "Hannah, this is Ensign Sato."
Not looking up from her drawing, Hannah said dispiritedly, "Hi."
Hoshi glanced inquiringly at Linda who was frowning slightly.
"Hannah, please don't be rude," Linda said. "These nice people are helping us fix the ship."
"I know," Hannah said, still focused on the paper in front of her.
Linda sighed and motioned for Hoshi to join her at a table some distance away from her daughter.
"Is she upset by the attack?" Hoshi asked softly.
"Actually, the attack didn't seem to bother her as much as I thought it would." Linda sipped her tea for a moment. "She's been like this for some time -- withdrawn, never smiling or laughing. She's spent all her free time drawing ever since--"
The comm panel near the door chirped.
"Well, at least something's working," Linda said with a small smile as she got up to answer.
While Linda conversed on the comm, Hoshi watched Hannah. The little girl was totally focused on her work, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she used a crayon.
"I've got to get down to one of the cargo holds," Linda said as she came back and picked up her cup. "They're not sure what got blown out into space when the hull was ruptured and they need the manifest."
Hoshi began to stand but Linda motioned for her to remain. "No, stay and finish your tea. It's the least we can offer for all your help."
"All right," Hoshi said. "I'll head back up to the bridge when I finish."
Well, this is awkward, Hoshi thought after Linda left. She was sitting here drinking tea with no one else around but a moody little girl.
Curiosity got the better of her after a few minutes of watching Hannah. What was she working on so diligently? Picking up her cup, she walked over to the little girl.
"May I join you?" Hoshi asked.
"Sure," said Hannah, not taking her eyes from the paper.
Hoshi sat down and craned her neck to get a better view of the picture. Even upside down, she could tell it was a drawing of two animals and a person.
"What are you coloring?" Hoshi asked.
"My pets."
"And that person with them must be you."
"Yeah, but not any more."
Hoshi couldn't miss the forlorn note in the girl's voice.
"Why's that?" Hoshi asked sympathetically, hoping her pets hadn't been killed in the attack.
"They're not here any more. Mommy thinks maybe they got on another ship. I think those traders we met took them on purpose."
"May I?" Hoshi asked, reaching to pull the paper toward her. As she turned the drawing around, her breath caught in her throat.
"Your pets were cats?" she asked.
"Yeah," Hannah said, twirling a black crayon around in her fingers.
One of the cats had black stripes on gray. Hannah had colored the other cat orange, the lighter ruff around its neck making it look like a miniature lion.
As the implications of the picture hit Hoshi, she felt a sharp stab of selfishness even as her heart went out to the little girl.
"They're very handsome kitties," Hoshi said, trying to keep her voice light. "They look like they're really big, too."
"Oh, yeah!" Hannah said with the first trace of animation that Hoshi had seen. "I could hardly pick them up when I was little. Now that I'm a big girl, I bet I could do it."
Hannah sniffed and dashed a hand across one eye. "Mommy says I'm a big girl now, and I shouldn't cry any more about Pumpkin and Smokey. But I miss them."
"Hannah, I need to get back to the bridge but I would like to see your picture when it's finished, if that's OK with you?"
"Sure," the little girl said, shrugging. "Everybody's tired of seeing my pictures. They say I should draw something else."
Hoshi returned to the bridge, her thoughts on the little girl who missed her two cats so much that she spent all her time drawing pictures of them. There were just too many similarities for Warp Core and Torpedo not to be the missing cats.
But, darn it! The cats had finally won over Captain Archer and had been given free run of the ship. All the crewmembers liked them, too.
And she had become used to them curling up with her every night before she fell asleep. It was like having a little bit of her childhood on board Enterprise with her. They had become familiar and comforting creatures in her small shipboard world.
Phlox had said something about their coloring being rather common. Torpedo and Warp Core weren't the only two cats in the galaxy that looked like that. Maybe they weren't Hannah's cats, Hoshi tried to persuade herself.
And even if they were, no one on board the Southern Cross knew about the cats on Enterprise. If she didn't say anything, she could keep them, and no one would be the wiser.
She sighed as she remembered Phlox saying that pets could also have an effect on a person's mental state. Hannah obviously had taken the loss of her pets hard.
By the time Hoshi finished the calibrations, she'd reached a decision. She went to find Hannah's mother before returning to Enterprise.
"Bye, guys," Hoshi whispered. "I'm going to miss you."
The two cats were in the cage. She had put the toys they'd accumulated, along with the catnip and a can of tuna, in a carrying bag.
Until it was actually time for the cats to leave, she hadn't realized how many of the crew were as attached to them as she was. She'd had numerous visitors to her cabin once word got out that Warp Core and Torpedo -- alias Pumpkin and Smokey -- were leaving.
Hoshi was pleased that she had been right about a few things -- the cats had indeed lived aboard a freighter and they were used to being put in a traveling cage -- but it didn't make her any less sad that the cats were leaving.
Only the fact that she'd also been right about someone taking good care of them helped ease her sadness. That little girl needed the cats more than she did.
Travis arrived to carry the cats to the airlock. He didn't talk on the way there, for which Hoshi was glad. She just wanted to get this over with.
All the repair crews were back on board. Once the cats were handed over, Enterprise's business with the Southern Cross would be done and the ships would go their separate ways. So when they rounded the last corner, Hoshi was startled to see the entire security staff lined up on either side of the corridor.
She looked over to find Travis grinning at her.
"You didn't think we'd let them go without a proper Starfleet send-off, did you?" he asked.
She was speechless as Travis put down the cage and Malcolm's voice rang out, "Attention!"
The cats' ears flattened against their heads and the security team immediately snapped to attention. Down the corridor, Hoshi saw the captain and Trip at the airlock. Next to them were Linda and Hannah, the little girl's eyes as wide as saucers.
The two cats pressed up against the bars of the cage, their gazes fixed on the small group by the airlock.
Jon turned toward Hannah and her mother. Looking down at the little girl, he said, "Hannah, I believe we found something that belongs to you. But before they go home, I want to present you with a token of our gratitude."
The little girl tore her gaze away from the cats to peer up at the man who dwarfed her. "Huh?" she said.
Jon squatted to look Hannah in the eye. She eyed him back curiously.
"Your cats have been a big help on our ship," he said. "There were some mice in our engine room, and they caught them for us."
"That's what Pumpkin and Smokey do on our ship," Hannah said solemnly.
"They also helped us catch those bad people who tried to take the cargo from your daddy and mommy's ship."
"Did those people look like mice?" Hannah asked.
"No, they didn't look like mice," Jon said as he chuckled, "but Pumpkin and Smokey helped just the same."
Trip leaned over and handed the captain a plaque.
"Your mother said you could hang this in your cabin," Jon said. "It shows how grateful we are for all the help your cats gave us. Can you read it, or do you want me to read it to you?"
"You read it," she said. "I'm not that good at big words yet."
"All right."
Standing and facing the cats and crew, Jon read, "For service above and beyond the call of duty, for diligent patrolling of the ship as members of the rodent eradication squad, for their willingness to give up one of their nine lives in defense of their crewmates, and for providing much appreciated morale boosts, the crew of Enterprise NX-01 hereby declares Pumpkin and Smokey, also known as Warp Core and Torpedo, honorary crewmembers of Starfleet's finest ship."
It was so hokey but Hoshi couldn't help it -- tears started trickling down her cheeks halfway through the captain's speech. She caught Linda's eye at the opposite end of the corridor, and saw the sheen of unshed tears glistening in her eyes.
The notes of the bosun's whistle sliced through the air and Travis unlatched the cage. Warp Core bounded out and raced down the corridor, jumping into Hannah's outstretched arms and causing the little girl to stagger under his weight.
"See, Mommy?" she said happily as she hugged the orange cat. "I told you I could hold them all by myself now!"
Hoshi looked down to see Torpedo warily emerging from the cage. He eyed the security team as if it were a gauntlet to run, which is exactly what he did when the piercing bosun's whistle sounded again. At the last moment, he veered sharply off course to climb Malcolm like a tree.
"Ow!" cried Malcolm as claws dug through his uniform.
Hoshi hurried forward to help Malcolm.
"He likes you!" Hannah said in amazement. "He doesn't climb anybody but Daddy."
"Lucky me," Malcolm muttered under his breath as Hoshi helped detach the cat which was firmly hooked to his collar and sleeve. She could hardly shush him for her laughter.
Hoshi gathered the striped cat in her arms and turned to give him to Linda. She gave Torpedo -- no, Smokey -- one last squeeze and a quick kiss to the top of his head before handing him and the bag to the other woman.
Linda gave Hoshi a grateful smile and looked down at her daughter. "Don't you have something for Ensign Sato, Hannah?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah." The little girl put the orange cat down and reached into her hip pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper.
"This is for you," she said, holding it out.
Hoshi took the paper and unfolded it. It was Hannah's drawing of her and the cats. The tears banished by Torpedo's antics threatened to spring forth again.
Kneeling down in front of Hannah, she looked at the little girl and said, "I'll put this in a special place where I can see it every day. Now I have something to remember them -- and you -- with. Thank you."
Hannah leaned forward and gave Hoshi a hug. "Thanks for bringing my kitties home," the little girl said softly in her ear.
Hoshi watched as Hannah, with some difficulty, scooped Pumpkin up in her arms and left through the airlock, followed by her mother carrying Smokey. Both cats looked back at Hoshi just before the door closed.
Hoshi stared at the airlock door for a few moments, composing herself. To her relief, when she stood and turned around, she saw only Trip. Everyone else had quietly slipped away.
"I'm going to miss those little furballs," Trip said.
"Me, too," Hoshi said, a sniff escaping her as she looked down at the picture.
"You need a nice frame for that," Trip said. "I could put something together in a few minutes, if ya like."
"I'd appreciate that," Hoshi said, giving him a grateful smile.
"Wood or metal?"
"I don't know. What do you think?"
The topic of what material to use kept them occupied for the entire walk to Engineering.
--- THE END ---