Author's Note: Hey, fififolle! Good to see you're back for the sequel. I appreciate your comments and that you're enjoying the story. Anyone else, feel free to comment also.

CHAPTER 7

Malcolm was waiting by the Morning Star's transporter when Trip arrived with a reluctant Slanea in tow.

"Captain's orders," he heard Trip tell her.

"Which captain?" Slanea asked sarcastically. "My captain or that other captain?"

"Both, actually," Malcolm answered, earning an outraged look from the Klingon engineer and a relieved sigh from the human one.

"You have no right--"

"I have every right," Malcolm cut her off harshly.

He took a moment to appraise her appearance before continuing. She had changed from her usual drab jumpsuit into something more...well, Klingon, was the only way he could describe it.

She was wearing a two-piece outfit that looked like it was made of aged black leather, worn and comfortable. The skin-tight pants were tucked into black boots, while the long-sleeved tunic, belted at the waist, reached below her hips. He didn't think the tunic was buttoned, but rather overlapped in front, held in place by a belt of the same material.

She'd also taken pains with her grooming, he noticed. Her long, black hair was tied back, with a tendril dropping down on either side of her face. There were also traces of makeup on her face.

"I have every right," he repeated in a more reasonable tone. "Since you are an unmated female outside the Empire, I am responsible for you, as I am your captain. Trip is also responsible for you, as he is your superior officer in engineering."

Slanea's face had taken on a resigned look as he talked, and he knew she understood what he was talking about.

Encouraged that she wasn't arguing, he continued, "A Klingon male has expressed interest in you. I believe Kleth to be an honorable man, one worthy of you."

A bemused smile transformed Slanea's face, but it disappeared at Malcolm's next words. "This meeting tonight is in part to find out if you are worthy of him."

At her downcast expression, Malcolm wondered if he'd hit a sore spot. He didn't know anything about her past, and frankly, he didn't care. As long as she could perform her engineering duties, it didn't matter to him.

"Slanea," he said. "I don't think this is such a bad idea. All I ask is that we have dinner aboard the Falcon with Captain Kleth. What else may happen is up to you. I won't order you to do anything you don't want to do."

For once, Slanea appeared to be at a loss for words. She nodded in agreement, and moved to step up onto the transporter platform.

"Wish I could figure out how you do that," Trip murmured as Malcolm input the commands for beaming.

"Do what?"

"Make her speechless."

Malcolm smirked. "I'm not telling unless you tell me how you managed to get her dressed up and to the transporter on time."

Trip blushed. "I'd rather not."

"Have it your way," Malcolm said as he and Trip stepped up on the platform, aware that Slanea was watching them. Just before the beam took them, he whispered in Trip's direction, "You're the one who has to listen to her all day."

Hoshi was groggy from whatever had been used to knock her out. As she tried to sort out what had happened, she wondered apprehensively if whatever drug had been used on her had hurt her unborn child.

"Who are you?" she asked the Lanari male who was with her in the room where she had awoken.

He favored her with a small smile. "I'm sorry," he said smoothly. "I am being rather rude, aren't I? I know all about you, and you don't have the faintest idea who I am."

She looked at him. He was of average Lanari height, which meant he was probably about thirty centimeters taller than her. His hair was a light brown shade, and the irises of his dark eyes were rimmed with a gold tinge, typical of most of his species. He had the slight cheek ridges all Lanari had on their faces. He wasn't heavy, but he wasn't slightly built, either.

The best word to describe him physically, Hoshi thought, was average. But the averageness of his build was overpowered by something compelling about his personality.

"My name is F'linu," he said after she had finished taking in his appearance. "I am one of the leaders of an opposition movement."

"Opposed to the government, you mean," she said.

"That's right," he said.

"And you don't want me to help the government set up medical clinics."

"Right again."

"Even though medical clinics would benefit all Lanari," she pressed on, beginning to wonder if he was going to volunteer any information that she couldn't guess first.

"That would have to be seen," F'linu told her with a crooked grin. "I sincerely doubt once the clinics opened -- provided they even reached that stage -- that the most needy people would see any benefit." His voice became brittle as he continued, "As with everything else the government has its sticky little fingers in, only government officials and the rich would benefit."

He stood up and paced over to the door before speaking again. "The majority of Lanari are miserable, and it is because of the greed, corruption, and blatant mismanagement within the governing council."

"What's that got to do with me?" Hoshi asked. "I came here to help the people of Lanari."

"Of course you did, but you didn't know any better." Leaning back against the door, he laughed derisively before he continued. "The government needs to look good. What better way to improve the lives of the downtrodden than by promising to provide better health care? And who better to organize it than someone who has successfully implemented a similar project on another world? But it's just a way to keep the people in line. They'll be mollified for a time, thinking the government is actually doing something to help them."

Hoshi shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position, but it wasn't easy sitting on the cot. Seeing her discomfort, F'linu stepped over and held out his hand.

"Please, let me help you," he said.

She looked up at him. She didn't see anything in his expression to cause her to mistrust him, but there wasn't anything there to trust, either. Hesitantly, she put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Her earlier supposition had been correct. He was quite a bit taller than she was. The top of her head came only to his chin. Standing in such close proximity, she was overwhelmed by a sudden awareness of his masculinity. It didn't help that he continued to hold her hand.

Pulling her hand out of his, she turned her back on him and took a few steps, trying to distance herself from him. She was relieved when he didn't follow her.

"You must be wondering what is going to happen to you now," he said.

She turned back to face him and nodded.

"You are going to be the guest of the Lanari Liberation League," he said.

The name didn't mean anything to her, but she didn't know much about Lanari to begin with. She vowed to herself that, if she ever left Estab again, she would research her destination more thoroughly than she had for this trip.

She hadn't been here a day and she had been kidnapped by an insurgent organization. What was worse, from the little information she had gleaned, was that she didn't know who the "bad guys" were. The government was obviously not a good one. She had been coming to that conclusion on her own before F'linu's group had kidnapped her.

But was his group any better? If F'linu was telling the truth, his group was concerned with correcting the ills that plagued the government. They sure picked a half-assed way to go about it, though. Whether the Lanari Liberation League was more interested in promoting its own goals, as was the case with many rebels, instead of bettering the lives of all Lanari remained to be seen.

She wished she had never taken on this project. It was bad enough that she gotten caught up in Lanari's civil strife, with two opposing sides eager to use her as a pawn, but she had other considerations now. She had to think of the baby.

Hugging her arms around herself, she said, "I want to go home."

"That's not possible," F'linu said.

"Why not?"

"You can be of use to us," he replied.

Hoshi felt her temper rise at his words. "You said you don't want anything other than to keep me from helping the government. If you don't want me to set up the medical clinics, I don't see how I can be of any possible use to you," she said angrily.

"A number of things come to mind," he said, and his speculative look was like a dash of cold water on her anger, chilling her to the bone.

Before he could elaborate, there was a knock at the door. F'linu opened it only wide enough to see who was outside, and had a quick, hushed conversation. Hoshi could only pick up a few of the words, something about the time and a meeting.

F'linu opened the door the rest of the way but turned to face her.

"I have to leave," he said. "Very shortly someone will be along with something for you to eat."

"But, what's going to happen to me?"

"As I said before, you are our guest." His face suddenly hardened. "Behave yourself, and you'll be treated well."

What he left unspoken was a threat that came through loud and clear. If she didn't cooperate, there would be consequences.

With a sinking feeling, she watched as he walked out of the room and closed the door. She could hear the click of a lock from where she was standing.

With a sense of deja vu, Malcolm walked into the captain's quarters aboard the Falcon. It seemed strange not to see Hoshi seated at the desk where he had seen her so many times.

Involuntarily his eyes moved to the bed, and he recalled the times they had spent there as well.

He tried not to sigh. Hoshi had only been gone one day, and he missed her. He wished the trip to Lanari hadn't been scheduled so soon after he'd come back from Earth with the Morning Star. They'd had so little time together before she'd had to leave. And he was still getting used to the idea that they were going to have a child.

At least it would be over and done with in a few more days. Hoshi would be back home and they could get on with their private lives. Still looking at the bed, he smiled, unaware that Kleth was watching him.

"Ma'Com?"

Kleth's bass rumble pulled his attention back to the present, and he looked over to find the tall Klingon regarding him thoughtfully.

"She'll be back soon," Kleth said. "But you have your own captain's cabin aboard your ship now. Please use that to welcome her back."

The feeling of deja vu intensified as Malcolm reared back and slugged Kleth in the arm as hard as he could. Kleth's eyes widened in pleased surprise and he laughed.

"You have been aboard the Falcon barely five minutes and already you are becoming Klingon again," the massive warrior said happily.

Malcolm didn't say anything as he rubbed his knuckles which hurt from hitting the muscular arm. His blow hadn't budged Kleth a fraction, and he'd put all his strength into it. At least he'd managed to duck out of the way when Kleth took a return swing at him.

Kleth turned his attention to Trip, who was entering the cabin with Slanea.

"Ah, Trip!" Kleth said as he reached out and smacked the engineer on the arm.

Trip winced. Rubbing his now bruised appendage, he said, "Would ya knock it off, Kleth? I need this arm."

"And Slanea," Kleth said, looking at the third member of the party and taking in her appearance with an appreciative lift of his eyebrow. "I am glad you are able to grace our company."

"I did not have a choice," she muttered, staring him straight in the eye.

Kleth stared back and then burst out laughing. "Oh, I like you very much! Come! You will sit by me at the table."

Trip had to give Slanea a nudge to get her moving. At his touch, she whipped her head around to snarl at him, but the snarl changed to something much softer, and she actually smiled at Trip. To Malcolm's astonishment -- and Trip's -- she reached over and took her fellow engineer's hand and tugged him toward the table.

This didn't bode well, Malcolm thought. He watched as Slanea made sure Trip was seated next to her, fussing over him and not looking at Kleth who was waiting to sit on her other side. He could tell from Trip's expression that he didn't know what was going on, either.

Slanea could be trying to use Trip to make Kleth jealous, Malcolm realized. Or, she could just be buttering him up, trying to improve the report he would give at the end of her probationary period. Or, she could be reacting in a typical Klingon manner, but since he didn't know much about Klingons in social settings, that reasoning could be off by a light year.

As he sat down, he released the sigh he'd been holding back earlier. He decided not to try to figure out what Slanea was doing. He'd just enjoy the dinner in the company of his friends.

"Blood wine!" Kleth said, opening a flagon and pouring a hefty amount in his cup. "Our meal will be here shortly."

"Is there by any chance going to be gagh?" Trip asked.

"Of course!"

"That's what I was afraid of," said the human, looking a little green. Casting a forlorn look at Malcolm, he added, "Knew I shoulda brought a ration pack."

"How are you surviving aboard a human ship, Slanea?" Kleth asked as he filled her cup. "I myself have first-hand experience that they like their food dead."

She regarded him for a moment before turning her eyes back to Trip. "I have developed a taste for certain things which are...human."

Malcolm didn't know whether to watch Kleth or Trip. Slanea's comment seemed to have thrown both of them off balance. He took a sip of blood wine to hide his amusement, and settled on watching Trip, who had blushed profusely before turning white as a sheet as the implication of what particular human things she liked hit him.

"No, you haven't!" Trip said.

"Yes, I have," she contradicted him with a dazzling smile. "I have just never told you."

Malcolm looked over at Kleth, who was watching the two engineers with undisguised interest and no small amount of jealousy. He was wondering whether he should intervene and tell Slanea to behave when Kleth spoke.

"You two act as if you are to mate," the Klingon captain said.

"What!" Trip stood up quickly, knocking his chair over and jerking his arm away from Slanea, who had been stroking it.

"Your conversation, the arguing, is a prelude to mating," Kleth explained.

"Maybe among Klingons, but not among humans," Trip protested indignantly. "The last thing I want to do is mate with Slanea."

"What!" Now it was Slanea's turn to jump up, outrage written on her face. "You do not find me desirable?"

As Trip spluttered for an answer to that loaded question, Malcolm spoke up. "Slanea," he said. "As your captain, I order you to behave."

She turned shocked eyes to him. "But you said you wouldn't order me to do anything I did not want to do. And I do not want to behave."

Malcolm closed his eyes in exasperation. How had she managed to twist around the meaning of what he had said earlier? As he was seeking the right words to defuse the situation, there was a beep from the comm panel on Kleth's desk.

Kleth stood up and marched to his desk. "Yes?" he said into the panel after depressing a button.

"We are receiving a transmission from Estab for Captain Reed," came the voice of Kleth's first officer.

Shoving his chair back from the table, Malcolm got to his feet and joined Kleth at the desk. "This is Captain Reed," he said.

The click of a new connection was heard, followed by a wavery voice. "This is Petrania, director of the Rawala clinic."

"Yes, Petrania. Hoshi has spoken of you," Malcolm said.

"I didn't know who else to contact."

"Is there a problem?" Malcolm asked. "You know that Hoshi is on Lanari right now."

"Yes, that's the problem," Petrania replied. "I have been trying to reach her about something here at the clinic. At first, none of the Lanari government officials I talked to would let me talk to her. And now..."

As her voice trailed off, Malcolm felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. "And now what, Petrania?"

There was a muffled sob over the comm before her voice returned. "Now, they say she has been kidnapped."