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Hoshi stopped in front of the cabin on B deck and checked the time: a little past twenty-three-hundred hours. Late, but Malcolm had given her an order, after all. So she pressed the bell.
"Enter," she heard immediately.
She opened the door and stopped just inside Reed's quarters. She was relieved to find Malcolm still in uniform, sitting at his desk.
"Ensign," he greeted her.
"I have the information you required, Lieutenant," she said.
"Thank you, Ensign." Reed got up, took the padd from her hand, and immediately got absorbed in it.
Hoshi glanced furtively around. She had always been intrigued by the lack of anything in Malcolm's room that would reveal her something about him, let her get a glimpse of the man's past, or of his family, or even of his hobbies. No pictures, no scout badges, no water polo ball, no… cricket bat, no nothing. Just a few books, neatly stacked on his shelves above the bed, but she couldn't make out any of their titles. It was unsettling and fascinating at the same time. As if Reed challenged you to find out who he really was. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. How many mysteries could Malcolm hide?
She looked at him and dismissed the disturbing thought. She liked the intensity he inevitably put in whatever he did. Even now, he was so totally concentrated. It was a quality that had always made her feel safe when he was around. No, she would never believe him capable of betrayal. It was nonsense. Even that time, a few months ago. She had felt terrible being the one who had revealed his deceit, but she had never had any doubt that his loyalty stood with the Captain and Enterprise, and that it would come through in the end.
"Ensign Louise Ashcroft…" Reed murmured, as if to himself.
Hoshi cleared her throat, a little embarrassed. She suspected Malcolm had forgotten about her standing in his room. Sure enough, his head jerked slightly before turning to her.
"Have you read any of their messages, Ensign?" he asked.
"No, Sir," Hoshi replied. She had wanted to, but had felt it wasn't the proper thing for her to do.
Malcolm nodded and turned pensive again, and Hoshi wondered why it was that one moment, like in the mess hall before, they would call each other by name, and the next, like now, he would stick to rank and keep her at arm's length. There was no one around after all. But, of course, he was too much of a gentleman, and probably thought that to call her by name in the privacy of his quarters would make her uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Ensign," Malcolm said again. "Sorry to make you work overtime."
"No problem, Lieutenant," Hoshi replied stepping out of the door. "Good night, Sir."
"Good night."
As soon as the door had closed behind Hoshi, Malcolm walked to his bed and dropped on it with a sigh, lying on his back. Despite Trip's order to rest he had spent the last hour digging into Brown's file, without finding anything suspicious or even odd about him. His family seemed normal; his past was ordinary; his curriculum flawless. The only piece of information worthy of notice was that he had lost his mother and some relatives in the Xindi attack; his mother had been visiting her sister in Florida. But during their mission in the Expanse Brown hadn't appeared particularly vengeful; not like Trip, for example. He had just been very focused on their mission, like all of them. If he had xenophobic feelings he certainly hadn't showed them.
He raised the padd and opened the first letter. 'Dear Tim, how is life treating you these days aboard the Enterprise?…' He went through the letter: nothing but friendly chat. He opened the second one, then Brown's reply. Not a bloody thing that might even slightly sound suspicious. Damn! Malcolm closed his eyes and threw the padd aside, raising his good arm over his face. He was beginning to think that he was in a worse fix than he had imagined.
He heaved a deep breath and suddenly felt all the weariness of the past hours. Consciously relaxing his body, he relished the feeling of tension easing away. He was already drifting into an exhausted sleep when his console beeped. He startled and tiredly picked himself up from the bed, stumbling to the desk. He opened the connection and a face he had hoped never to see again appeared on the screen.
"What the hell do you want now, are you determined to get me into serious trouble?" he burst out angrily, very much awake again.
Harris looked unperturbed. "I happen to know that you already are in serious trouble, Lieutenant. I may be able to help you."
"I don't want your bloody help! I want to have nothing to do with you any more. I thought I had made myself clear," Reed growled.
"So you had. But…"
Reed interrupted him furiously "Go to hell, Harris. I'm not going to listen to another word you say. If Starfleet finds out you have contacted me, no one will believe in my innocence, not even my own mother!" He reached out and hit the button angrily to cut off the connection.
Malcolm passed a nervous hand through his hair. Just what I needed, he thought irritably. His heart was racing, and he went to get himself a glass of water to try and calm down. He glanced at the bathroom mirror and startled at the image he saw reflected. No wonder Trip had ordered him to get some rest.
He returned to the bed and stretched out on it again, trying to find a comfortable position – not an easy thing to do with an injured arm. He doubted he'd fall asleep any time soon, but he closed his eyes anyway, ordering the lights off. Instead of counting sheep he'd count the many colourful curses he could think up for Harris.
Trip awoke to the sound of the alarm clock. He shut it off with a groan, wondering how it was possible that it was already time to get up, it felt as if he had just closed his eyes. He wished he could go back to sleep, he didn't look forward to waking up to the present predicament.
After a shower and shave he put on a fresh uniform and commed sickbay. Phlox seemed a little bit more positive about the chances of the Captain and T'Pol recovering; the two officers were still unconscious but their biosigns were getting stronger. Well, this was at least good news to begin the day with. He was about to go to the mess hall for a hearty breakfast when his comm. link beeped.
"Sir, they are hailing us from the planet," the person manning communications said.
"Thank you, crewman. Put it through to my quarters," Trip replied.
The day before he hadn't found the time to speak to the Raans about the explosion signature; at least that's what he had told himself last night before drifting off to sleep. The truth being, if he was honest, that he wasn't very skilled at diplomacy and had tried to put the call off for as long as possible. Well, here he was now.
A moment later a grey humanoid face filled his screen and he recognised Prime Minister Teron from the times Archer had spoken to him. Those protruding purple eyes really gave him the creeps, but Trip schooled his features as neutrally as he could, not knowing what to expect after the outburst of Chief Advisor Asek.
"Commander Tucker, I hope I am not disturbing you. Raans begin their day very early, and I am not sure about human customs," the Prime Minister said in a voice that seemed sincerely kind.
Trip was taken aback. He had expected another furious outburst. "No, Sir," he replied. "Humans get up quite early too." At least this human does, he silently added. "I was relieved to know that no one on your planet was seriously injured in the explosion, Prime Minister," he added hesitantly after a short pause.
"We were fortunate, Commander. We had just vacated the hall," Teron replied. "How are your officers? I was told they were wounded when my guards fired on them," he enquired with a frown of what, on a human face, would have probably been concern.
"Captain Archer and Commander T'Pol are in critical condition. Lieutenant Reed received a minor injury," Trip said gravely.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Commander. I assure you, I didn't order the attack; my guards reacted rashly and have been reprimanded for that," Teron replied. "I was very impressed with your Captain. He and I share the same view. All species should indeed make an effort to know each other and collaborate to the well-being of the galaxy." After a short pause he asked, "What can you tell me about the explosion's signature? Can you confirm our findings?"
"I can," Trip admitted grimly. The Prime Minister's composure was making this conversation a lot easier than he had expected; yet it wasn't fun to concede that someone on Enterprise may be responsible for blowing up their hall and injuring a bunch of innocent people. "If I may, Sir, I have no way of tellin' if the data that was given to us is genuine," he added cautiously.
"I see," Teron replied, and Trip almost sighed in relief. This man really seemed sincerely willing to understand. "I do have enemies on my world," the Prime Minister added thoughtfully.
"But even if the data was faked, and the explosive used was not Starfleet, there is the still the question of how it is possible someone on Raan had the knowledge to simulate a Starfleet explosive signature," Trip reasoned. "We have a traitor, I'm afraid, and we'll do our best to find him and bring him to justice. You can rest assured of that, Sir. Please accept Starfleet's formal apologies," Trip concluded, straightening his shoulders.
"They are accepted, Commander. It's quite clear that whoever did this wanted to prevent Humans and Raans from forming an alliance. Let's not forget that there are people, on both our worlds, who are against interplanetary exchanges. Many Raans are wary of befriending more technologically advanced species," the Prime Minister said sombrely. "They fear their superiority and firmly oppose my government's policy." The alien paused and then concluded, "I'll have people check the data that was sent to you, Commander. I'll keep you apprised of any developments."
Then, to Trip's surprise, Teron's purple eyes suddenly filled with very human-like compassion as he added, "I hope your Captain and Commander will recover. I would appreciate if you could keep me informed on their conditions."
"I will, Sir," Trip replied, impressed by the man's kindness. "Thank you for your understanding and concern."
The screen went blank and Trip shook his head in amazement. He certainly hadn't expected this conversation to go the way it had. Prejudice was such a difficult thing to eradicate, he wondered. He too, he was ashamed to admit, had fallen into the trap, feeling upset just to set eyes on a grey face with bulging purple eyes. People have such an instinctive distrust of whoever is different from them, he mulled. That is our real challenge. It had taken the different races on Earth centuries to trust one another, he wondered if they would ever achieve such an ambitious goal on a larger scale.
TBC