CHAPTER 2

It didn't take a telepath to sense the growing unease of Miss Bloom. She was seated at the desk in Hoshi's cabin as Malcolm outlined what was expected of her.

In disbelief, she stuttered, "You want m-m-me to im-impersonate a security officer?"

"No, not at all," he told her. "You're supposed to be a weapons' development expert. The cover we've devised for you puts you in security, but you'll be answerable only to me. You won't have to work closely with any of the other crew, and much of the time can be spent in my office where you'll be...oh, why don't we say correlating data for field tests of a new weapon?"

Malcolm paused as Miss Bloom mulled that over.

Trying to reassure her, Hoshi said from her seat on the bunk, "You won't have to talk to anyone about what you're supposedly doing, either. If anyone asks, you can say that it's classified and you can't talk about it."

Miss Bloom slowly nodded her head twice. "That could work, I guess," she said.

Malcolm reached into a pocket on his uniform and pulled out something.

"We thought it best to make you an ensign," he said, holding out a shiny rank insignia bar to her. When she looked up at him in puzzlement, he leaned down and attached it to her collar. "No one other than I will outrank you in security, and when I introduce you to my staff, I'll make it clear that you only take orders from me."

"Introduce me?" she asked, clearly not liking the idea. "Aren't I supposed to be keeping a low profile?"

"Whenever new staff members come on board," Hoshi said, "it's up to the department head to introduce them to the rest of his or her staff. If Lieutenant Reed didn't introduce you, they'd know something unusual is going on."

"I don't understand why I have to do this," Miss Bloom said, scratching her head and mussing her hair even more. "You're supposed to be protecting me from the people I worked for, not your own crew."

Hoshi exchanged a glance with Malcolm. He gave her a look that said since it was her idea, she could explain it.

"This is a delicate situation," Hoshi said. "Our orders from Starfleet are that the fewer people who know who you really are, the better. There have been a few instances in the past where a member of the crew had outside contacts we didn't know about, and that caused some problems. And, from another perspective, the fewer people who know, the fewer who could be hurt because of their contact with you."

Miss Bloom went pale. "You mean they could in danger simply because they know who I am?"

"The people you worked for are, by your own account, Miss Bloom, quite ruthless," Malcolm said with a hard edge to his voice. "Certainly the possibility of guilt by association has occurred to you. Not only are we protecting you, but to some extent we are protecting the rest of the crew. If someone admitted to knowledge of you, do you think your former employers would stop to ask what exactly it is that they know about you? Or would they just kill them out of hand?"

Miss Bloom gasped, and Hoshi said, "Stop it, Malcolm! You're scaring her."

"It's not intentional," Malcolm continued in a less harsh tone. "But Miss Bloom needs to understand what we must do to protect her, as well as what she must do. That includes no talking to other members of the crew unless it's absolutely necessary or unavoidable."

Her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide, Miss Bloom nodded.

"Now," Malcolm said briskly, "we're going to have to come up with a new name for you. Perhaps we could still use your first name, if it's not terribly unusual."

A shudder went through Miss Bloom. In a very quiet voice, she said, "Violet."

It was all Hoshi could do to keep from laughing out loud as Malcolm blinked, putting the first name together with the last. Hoshi had already known her first name, as he surely had from looking at her dossier, but apparently it hadn't hit him.

"Violet," he repeated somewhat awkwardly. "Well, that's not a very common name nowadays, so perhaps--"

"I hate my name," Violet spat out, for once showing some backbone. "What were my parents thinking giving me that name? Violet Bloom! Do you have any idea how much teasing I had to put up with when I was growing up?"

Showing no signs of letting up, Violet paused to take a deep breath, and Hoshi took the opportunity to say placatingly, "Perhaps we should come up with a different name. What would you like to be called?"

Violet seemed to have shrunk down into herself when her outburst was interrupted. "Uh, I don't know," she said, avoiding the two officers' gazes. "Something simple."

"Jane Doe is the first name that comes to mind," Malcolm said, "but that's too obvious. No one would believe it was your real name, and that might be a conversation starter for some of our more, ah, social crewmen."

Hoshi suppressed a smile. He had to be talking about Travis.

"How about Jane Smith?" Malcolm suggested. "Very simple, very plain--"

He broke off abruptly as he realized what he'd just said. Plain was the perfect word to describe Violet. Except for her alleged memory talent and her name, there was nothing that wasn't plain about her. The red blush staining Violet's cheeks had to mean she'd picked up on the unintentional description as well.

Hoshi could see Malcolm was embarrassed. As for herself, she was embarrassed for both of them.

"Tell you what," Hoshi said to Malcolm. "Why don't you leave us alone for a while? I'll fill Violet in on some of the other things she needs to know. Come back in about an hour and we'll take her to the mess hall to get something to eat."

Like any good tactical officer, Malcolm knew when to retreat. With a grateful nod to Hoshi, he headed for the door. Once there, he turned around as if to say something, apparently thought better of it, and let himself out.

Hoshi turned to Violet to find her staring wistfully at the door through which Malcolm had departed.

"I have that effect on a lot of men," Violet said sadly.

Hoshi went over everything she could think of that Violet would need to know.

She told her about protocol concerning ranks -- no saluting but defer to anyone of higher rank, such as letting them go first through a hatch unless the senior officer indicated otherwise. She told her that she shouldn't wander off by herself -- there were a few restricted areas and she would get into trouble. She showed her how to use the comm panel -- just in case she needed help and Malcolm wasn't around.

She even told her that Chef liked to flirt with both the female and male crewmembers. No sense in having Violet go into a fit if she saw Chef slap a crewman of either gender on the rump or, heaven forbid, by some strange circumstance she happened to be in the galley and Chef gave her an unsolicited love pat.

"Is there anything you have questions about?" Hoshi asked when she'd finished.

Violet was looking rather dazed. "Um. I don't think so," she said.

"Good!" Hoshi said, forcing a smile. "I'm sure the lieutenant will have some more things to talk to you about when he gets here before we get some dinner."

Violet looked away. "About that..."

"Yes?"

"I'm...I'm not really hungry. I'm more tired than anything," Violet said, getting up to go over to her bunk where she sat and pulled out the pillow and hugged it. "This has all been a bit overwhelming. I'd really just rather stay here and let my mind go blank, if you know what I mean. I haven't had a chance to just sit and do nothing. Well, I guess I did on the transport but--"

"I think I know what you mean," Hoshi said, cutting Violet off before she could get up steam. Even so, Hoshi felt a rush of sympathy for the woman despite her annoyance. Violet had been through an awful lot, and had to be scared. "Let me make sure it's okay with the lieutenant, though."

Violet nodded and hugged the pillow tighter as the door chime sounded. Hoshi hopped up and went to the door. Opening it, she said, "Speak of the devil."

Malcolm's brow knitted at her remark, but he let it pass. "Everything OK?" he asked.

Hoshi glanced back at Violet, who was huddled cross-legged on her bunk, pillow still firmly ensconced in her arms. Motioning Malcolm to step back, Hoshi entered the corridor and let the door close behind her.

"She's exhausted," Hoshi said, adding with a grimace, "though you'd never know it from the way her mouth keeps going."

"She didn't seem very talkative around me," Malcolm said.

"I think she's shy around men. And I have a much more sympathetic personality than you do."

Malcolm quirked an eyebrow at that remark. But before he could say anything, Hoshi told him about Violet's desire to be alone and rest.

"But I'm not sure she should be left alone," Hoshi said. "One or the other of us is supposed to be keeping an eye on her."

"I could go to the mess and bring back something for both of you, but I think you could use a break from her too," he said. He unclipped a scanner from a loop at waist level on his uniform. "I have just the thing to take care of a situation like this."

"A scanner?"

"I've modified it," he said, twisting a knob and holding the device up to the door access panel where he keyed in some information. "I've input her biosign and yours. If she leaves, it will sound an alarm on this scanner. Also, if someone other than you or she enters the cabin, it will also sound an alarm."

At first impressed by Malcolm's cleverness, Hoshi was struck by a sudden suspicion. "What else do you have monitoring my cabin?" she asked.

Still working on inputting some information into the scanner, Malcolm replied, "I haven't had time yet, but I'd like to set up a video survelliance camera." He paused to check something on the screen of the scanner.

"Malcolm," Hoshi said sweetly.

Looking up from the scanner, he straightened and took a step back at her outraged expression.

"Don't even think about putting a camera in my quarters!"