CHAPTER 23
Reed was on his way to engineering again. It seemed like he spent half his time going back and forth between there and the captain's cabin.
They were getting close to Shidak's stronghold, and he wanted to check in with Tucker before he went to the bridge where Hoshi was overseeing last-minute preparations.
He wasn't given to premonitions, but he was more on edge than usual for a mission. There were just too many variables, too many things that could happen. Hoshi would be right in the middle of whatever happened. He'd have to protect her -- even from herself, if necessary.
As he walked along, he wished he and Hoshi had more time together before they reached Shidak. His mind slipped back to last night. She had readily given herself to him after Tucker and Kleth had left her cabin, surprising him with the intensity of her passion. She constantly amazed him. The more time he spent with her, the more he...
Loved her.
He slammed the bulkhead hatch he'd just passed through with more force than necessary. He would have been the last one to say a person could fall in love in only a few days, but it had happened. He'd fallen harder than he had ever imagined was possible.
But as long she was still in love with her dead husband, however, she'd never hear it from his lips.
The best he could do was be there for her. He wouldn't give her another burden to carry, not if he could help it. He could imagine her reaction if he told her he loved her. She might be pleased, but she'd also feel guilty, he knew, as if it were her fault that a man other than Matthew loved her -- that he loved her.
"You are angry, Ma'Com," Kleth said as he fell into step with Reed as he rounded a corner in the corridor leading to engineering.
Reed snarled in response. Less than week aboard the Falcon and he was starting to act like a Klingon, he thought. Well, it suited his mood right now. It might be the only thing that would keep him -- and Hoshi -- alive.
Striding along at a fast pace, Kleth for once had to keep up with him, despite the Klingon's longer legs. Reed entered engineering first, heading straight for Tucker, who was at the primary controls for the warp engine.
"Status!" he barked.
"Everything's as ready as it'll ever be," Tucker said, assuming a stance almost at attention. "Efficiency rating is up to 94 percent."
Reed nodded, turning around in a full circle to look at the Klingons at the monitoring stations scattered throughout engineering. "Looks like you're fully manned," he said.
"Or Klingon'ed," Tucker cracked.
Reed flashed him a smirk. Turning on his heel, he headed for the door, Kleth right behind him.
They walked quickly, neither speaking, unity of purpose matching their steps in tandem. When they came to an intersection of corridors, they both turned in the same direction. Reed was first up the ladder to the next deck, heading for the bridge, Kleth hard on his heels.
They arrived on the bridge to find an icy calm. Hoshi was sitting in the captain's chair, and Kleth moved to stand at his customary position slightly behind and to one side of her.
Hoshi acknowledged Kleth's presence with a slight nod. She was turning to Reed, who was standing where the ladder debouched onto the bridge, when a beeping from the communications console drew everyone's attention.
"It is from Shidak's location," reported the Klingon at the console, looking to Hoshi for instructions.
Reed saw her take a deep breath before she said, "Put it on screen."
"It is audio only, Captain."
"Well, then, let's hear it," she said with a trace of asperity.
At first there was only static as the Klingon pushed some buttons and made adjustments. Then the silence of an open channel came through, followed by the transmission.
"You have entered private space," said a harsh voice over the speaker. "Identify yourselves."
"This is the Falcon, under the command of Captain Sato. We seek an audience with Shidak," Hoshi said forcefully.
"For what purpose?" the voice came back.
"We seek to join his organization of...independent...ships," she answered carefully.
"No one is admitted without proper homage."
Reed heard Kleth growl softly, and saw Hoshi raise an eyebrow at the wording. Homage, indeed. Add delusions of grandeur to Shidak's quirks, he thought, as he noticed her ball her hands into fists before replying.
"We have more than proper homage," she said.
"You have not brought anything," the voice said harshly.
"Scan our docking bay, if you can at this distance!" Hoshi cried quickly. "We have something that will be of great interest to Shidak."
A long pause followed, and Hoshi got up to pace.
"We are being scanned," reported Garef from the helm.
"It is a small ship, not worth anything," the voice suddenly said over the speaker.
"Oh, but it is," Hoshi said. "It is a spy ship full of Starfleet technology. That alone would make it a worthy prize, but it has another secret as well." Before the anonymous voice could ask, she pushed on. "Its engine is a prototype, capable of faster speeds than any other ship in this quadrant."
"Proceed," said the voice. "Coordinates are being sent. Assume orbit when you arrive. You will be contacted at that time."
The sound of the connection being cut could be heard over the speaker, and Reed let out a pent-up breath. He was half-expecting they would be turned down and would have to fight their way in.
"Coordinates coming in," the Klingon at the communications console reported.
At Hoshi's nod, Kleth ordered, "Transfer them to the helm. Set the course, warp one." With a sly grin he added, "No need to show them we are in a hurry. Let them wait for us."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Hoshi said, grinning fiercely at him. "How long until we reach the destination?"
"Four hours," answered Garef.
"Plenty of time," she remarked with a satisfied smile. To Kleth she said, "You have the bridge. I will be in my cabin."
Reed caught her gesture to follow as she made her way off the bridge. They walked in silence until they entered her cabin, where she immediately went to sit behind her desk.
"Well, that worked out," she said.
"Better than I had hoped," he answered, remaining standing and looking down at her. "We have to be ready when we get there, though."
"I know." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"You OK?" he asked.
"Yes. It's just that that was a little..." She paused, eyes still shut, seeking the right word and finally coming up with, "...anti-climactic."
Once more he was struck by how much strain she was under. Granted, they hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. They never did when they were in bed together. But he knew that wasn't the only reason she had dark circles under her eyes.
"I'm going to check over the scout ship one more time," he told her and saw her eyes pop open. "Shidak will want a demonstration of its abilities. I want to make sure everything's operational."
She gave him a small, knowing grin. "Make sure you put that tracker somewhere in it, too, just in case."
He grinned back. Either she had the same type of sneaky mind he had, or they'd been together long enough that she was beginning to understand how he thought. There was an unsettling idea. He hoped she didn't know what else he had in mind.
He turned to leave before his face gave him away. At the cabin door, he turned back, however, to give her a smile. "See you later on the bridge," he said.
Reed attached the tracker in what he hoped was an unobtrusive spot under the pilot's console. Shidak might manage to get his hands on the ship, and he didn't want to take the chance of that happening without having some way to trace it.
He expected that Hoshi would give Shidak a demonstration of the ship's flight capabilities but still refuse to hand it over. She would be angling for a meeting with the pirate leader, the more private and intimate the better, to carry out her plan. Reed would have to make sure he was along if he was to prevent her from killing him, or vice versa.
He felt as if he was sneaking around behind her back, trying to circumvent her plan to kill Shidak. Well, he was, actually, but admitting it to himself didn't make him feel any better. It was for her own good. That wouldn't mean that she'd be any less angry at him afterward. Provided there was an afterward.
Rousing himself from these thoughts, he found he had been staring at the communications panel. Maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something. He ought to contact Archer. He might need Enterprise's help soon. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have that ship in a position to assist him in a timely manner.
He quickly composed a transmission and compressed it, mentally crossing his fingers as he sent the burst. As brief as it was, it might be mistaken for random noise by the Klingon on the bridge monitoring communications.
If Hoshi's crew did figure out what it was, well, he'd just have to deal with the consequences. Hoshi needed his help, and Tucker's, too badly to throw them in the brig again.
"Compressed burst coming in, sir," Shuemaker said from the communications console aboard Enterprise.
"Transfer it to my ready room," Archer said, standing up from his chair on the bridge. At last, he thought with a measure of relief, some word from Reed.
The message wasn't long. It gave a string of coordinates, followed by a simple statement: Get in position and wait.
Damn! It didn't tell him anything. They'd still be waiting. But at least they'd be moving for the time being, instead of aimlessly patrolling the trade routes.
Pushing a button on the comm panel on his desk, he relayed the coordinates to Mayweather at the helm.