Title: Bound by Honor

Author: Kathy Rose

Rating: M (for a few adult situations)

Category: Adventure/Romance--AU (Alternate Universe)

Beta: PJ -- thanks again, lady!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to someone else, etc., etc., etc. I'm not making any money, I'm just having fun with the characters. Wish I'd thought of them first.

Summary: Sequel to Acts of Piracy. Malcolm and Hoshi plan to settle down, run a shipping business and raise a family, but of course things go wrong. Meanwhile, Kleth the Klingon takes an interest in a member of Malcolm's new crew.

CHAPTER 1

"They spray something in the ship to make it smell like this, you know," Hoshi said, pausing to sniff.

She and Malcolm were walking down a corridor in his ship. He had purchased it two weeks ago on Earth. It wasn't a new ship, but it was the closest Malcolm could find to what he wanted -- speed combined with lots of cargo space. It was the first of what Malcolm hoped would evenutally be a fleet for a shipping business he was trying to establish.

"What smell?" he asked as he stopped and sniffed as well.

"New ship smell," she answered. "I recognize it from every time we'd get a new ship at H-S Shipping."

He chuckled. "This ship is twenty years old. There is no way it can be considered new."

"Yes, but the new ship smell is just one of the little tricks sellers use to boost the price."

He smiled at her as they resumed walking. "I knew I should have taken you along when I bought this."

Hoshi's smile fell. Malcolm had unintentionally hit a sore spot. She could never return to Earth, not unless she wanted to take a chance on spending a good portion of the rest of her life in prison.

Noticing her downcast expression, Malcolm stopped walking and put out an arm to stop her.

"I'm sorry, Hoshi," he said sincerely. "Some day that will be all sorted out. Give it some time. You weren't responsible for what happened, and the powers that be will realize that, too, eventually."

"You're right, of course," she said, trying not to think about the seventeen Estabi who had been killed by her crew, despite her orders not to harm them, when she had commanded a renegade Klingon warbird. "Just so long as I have you, it doesn't matter."

She was rewarded by a huge grin that lit up his face. "Let me show you something else," he said excitedly.

She let out a sigh. They'd traipsed all over the ship, and had seen the bridge, engineering, any number of cargo holds, the crew's quarters, the mess. What else could there possibly be to see?

Besides, she was tired. She wanted nothing more than to get off her feet. Her doctor at one of the medical clinics she had established on Estab had told her she might feel this way the first few weeks.

Malcolm leaned over and pushed the entry button on the bulkhead next to the door where they had stopped. She glanced at him in puzzlement before looking into the room. Her eyes widened at what she saw inside.

"It's your cabin," she said in amazement as she took in the furnishings. "This sure beats my captain's cabin on the Falcon."

Stepping into the room, she continued to gaze delightedly around. There were the expected accounterments -- a desk and chair, computer, a table. But everything that could be was made of wood that glowed with a polished patina.

A door off to one side was open, and she caught a glimpse of gleaming porcelain fixtures.

Her eyes went to a screen panel with an Oriental design that ran from ceiling to floor on the opposite side of the cabin. Behind it was the only place that could possibly have enough room for a bed.

Tossing Malcolm an impish smile, she sauntered around the room, stopping to peek in the bathroom and making an approving murmur. Not only was there a shower, but a bathtub as well.

She continued her inspection, impressed as she looked at a wooden armoire. She appreciatively ran her hand down the framework on one of its doors.

"Antique?" she asked as she opened a door to reveal Malcolm's neatly hung ship-board clothing.

"Of course," he replied. "Came from my parents' estate, as did the rest of the furniture."

She resumed her inspection, her steps taking her toward the screen panel. Pointing to it, she asked, "And this?"

"Lovely, isn't it? That's the one piece I bought especially for you. Just in case Kleth ever decides to pay an unexpected visit while you're here."

They grinned at each other as they remembered the time on the Falcon when the big Klingon had burst in to find them in bed. Hoshi felt a flush starting to stain her cheeks, and quickly turned away to look behind the screen as Malcolm chuckled.

She squealed. There wasn't the standard narrow bunk behind the screen, but a grand-sized, more-than-big-enough-for-two bed. "Did this come from your parents' estate, too?"

"Heaven forbid! I wouldn't be able to sleep, not to mention do other things in it, if it was theirs," he responded, crossing the cabin to stand by her side. "No, I bought that."

"I thought you said the screen was the only piece you bought for me?"

"It is. The bed is for us," he said, turning her around to face him so that he could lean down and kiss her.

She moaned lightly as his lips caressed hers, her arms wending their way around his back.

"I missed you so much," he whispered against her lips, his arms tightening around her.

"You were only gone three weeks," she whispered back.

"The longest three weeks of my life," he growled before his mouth came down to claim hers forcefully.

She suddenly swayed on her feet, and his hands steadied her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She smiled at him, thinking this would be the perfect time to tell him. They were alone in his cabin on his new ship, about to celebrate his homecoming. Why not give him one more thing to celebrate?

She opened her mouth to speak but there was a knock at the door. She glanced in the direction of the door, but it was out of sight on the other side of the screen.

"Bloody hell," Malcolm muttered. "What is it about us and captain's cabins?"

She giggled. "It can't be Kleth, because he and the Falcon aren't due back from his trade run yet."

Malcolm laughed softly and patted her shoulder. "At least whoever it is, they're knocking first."

He went around the screen, Hoshi following. She stopped in the middle of the cabin as he opened the door.

"Hey! How's it goin'?" came a once-familiar drawl.

"Commander Tucker?" she said incredulously. "Shouldn't you be on a Starfleet vessel somewhere?"

He grinned at her, taking a step into the cabin before replying. "Please, after all we've been through, call me Trip. And I should be, but I'm not. Someone talked me into tinkerin' with the engine on his new ship." Giving Malcolm a quick glance, he lowered his voice before turning back to her. "How he found out I had almost six months' leave comin' I have no idea."

"Trip agreed to help me out with my first ship," Malcolm said. "Besides, I can't see Kleth standing up as my best man."

"I seriously doubt he'd want to be the flower girl, either," Hoshi managed to say with a straight face, and all three burst out laughing.

When the laughter subsided, Trip looked over at Malcolm. "So when is the big day, anyway?"

Malcolm glanced at Hoshi, his nod indicating she should answer.

"We still have a few things we need to take care of first," she said. "Malcolm wants to get the ship ready, and I'm scheduled to leave on a trip to Lanari the day after tomorrow."

"Lanari?" Trip repeated. "That's in the next system over, isn't it?"

"Yes," she answered. "The government there has asked me to be a consultant for some medical clinics it wants to set up."

Malcolm's voice was full of pride as he said, "Hoshi's getting quite a reputation in the area. Her medical clinics on Estab have been very successful."

She blushed at his praise. "Once that's out of the way, we'll see about arranging for a ceremony on Estab."

"Takin' your honeymoon on board?" Trip asked curiously.

"Yes," Malcolm said. "Our first scheduled cargo run will be ideal for a long, leisurely honeymoon."

The talk turned to the upgrades Malcolm wanted Trip to do on the ship, and Hoshi found her attention drifting. She really was tired. If they were going to keep going over engine specs and power routings, maybe she'd just slip away and get some sleep. She could wait a little longer to tell Malcolm her news. She certainly didn't want to spring it on him in front of Trip.

"Hoshi?"

Malcolm's voice brought her back.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's been a long day."

"Why don't you go down to the cottage," Malcolm said. "I'll be along shortly."

She gave him a tolerant smile. "Take as long as you want. I know how you two are."

Trip cleared his throat. "Maybe I should be goin'," he said.

Malcolm stepped over and gave Hoshi a quick peck on the cheek. "You don't mind?" he asked.

"No, I'll just take a quick nap," she said. A smile quirked her lips as she added in a low voice, "We can save the captain's bed for our honeymoon."

"I'm out of here," Trip said, walking toward the door. "Too much information for me."

Malcolm chuckled and gave Hoshi another quick kiss before following the engineer. "I'll see you at the cottage in a bit," he said from the door.

"I'll be waiting," she said.

It was later than Malcolm had realized. He and Trip had gotten so wrapped up in tweaking the ship's engine that time had passed quickly. When they'd finally managed to get a recalcitrant power coupling to behave, he'd been startled to find out that it was well past the dinner hour.

He'd hurriedly beamed down to the public pad nearest the cottage on Estab. It would have been easier to beam into the cottage, but Hoshi had some old-fashioned notions about certain things. The cottage has a door -- use it, she had said.

He could see the lights in the house as he approached. The brisk five-minute walk from the pad had invigorated him, and he was looking forward to being with Hoshi by himself without interruption.

He quickly let himself in and shut the door behind him. She wasn't in the living area or the kitchen, but he saw a dim light coming from the bedroom. He quietly walked over to the door and peeked in. Hoshi was still dressed, fast asleep lying on her stomach on their bed.

She really had been tired, he realized. He had thought her comments about a long day and how much her feet hurt had been a not-so-subtle ploy to get him home and in bed. He smiled as he gazed at her, wondering if he would ever fully understand her. Then he realized it didn't matter -- he would always love her, no matter what. She was the only woman in the entire universe for whom he would have given up his commission in Starfleet, and he hadn't regretted it once.

He debated for a few moments, wondering if he should wake her or let her sleep. She worked too hard, but then, her close supervision of the medical clinics she had set up on Estab ensured their success. No wonder the Lanari government was asking her to help with its similar effort.

Slipping off his boots, he carefully crawled onto the bed next to her and pulled a quilt over both of them, her soft breathing lulling him to sleep.