CHAPTER 8

Hoshi detoured by the quartermaster's store when her shift was over. She'd almost forgotten she needed to get more uniforms for Violet. She figured she could make it there and back to her cabin before Malcolm showed up with Violet, but she hadn't counted on the quartermaster's curiosity from his own unique point of view.

He'd asked her why someone in Starfleet didn't bring uniforms with her. Hoshi had stared at him for a moment while she tried to come up with a convincing explanation. She wound up mumbling something about Ensign Smith losing some of her luggage in transit.

She was getting too good at telling lies, Hoshi reflected as the quartermaster handed her two uniforms in Violet's size. The quartermaster grumbled about his depleted stock but appeared to accept her answer, although she did have to listen to him complain for five minutes about resupply problems in space.

She was walking away from the quartermaster's store when the communicator she'd taken to carrying since Violet had come aboard beeped. There was only one person who knew she was carrying it, and he wouldn't contact her that way unless it was important. Apprehension formed a tight ball in her stomach. Cradling the uniforms in one arm, she pulled the communicator out of her pocket with her free hand. She flipped it open and said, "Sato."

"The alarm I rigged for your cabin just went off," Malcolm's voice came over the communicator.

"It's okay, though, because you're with her, right?" Hoshi asked.

"No. I took her back to your cabin about twenty minutes ago. Aren't you with her?"

"No," Hoshi said, breaking into a trot. "I'm going to my cabin right now. Where are you?"

"Leaving the armory on my way there," he said.

Malcolm cut the transmission before she could tell him about the unexplained sensor echo.

Coming from the armory, Malcolm would have farther to go than she did. She was going to get to her cabin first. Not being armed might present a problem, but perhaps she could stall whomever it was long enough for Malcolm to arrive.

She ruled out taking the turbolift -- too slow, and she might have to wait on a car to come to this deck. Her cabin was only one level up so she climbed a between-decks access ladder and broke into a run when she reached the top.

It could be something perfectly innocent, she told herself as she ran, the spare uniforms flapping in her arms. Maybe someone stopped by to say hello. Or maybe Violet herself had opened the door to take a peek out in the corridor for some inexplicable reason.

But there had been that echo on the sensors. It was too much of a coincidence. Until she knew for sure, she had to treat this as if it was an attempt on Violet's life.

Hoshi rounded a curve in the corridor to see Malcolm, phase pistol in hand, racing toward her from the opposite direction. They reached her cabin door at the same time.

Out of breath, Hoshi gasped, "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Emergency override on the turbolift controls," he replied shortly as he keyed in the command to open the door.

He motioned Hoshi to stand to the side as he punched one last button. The door slid open and Malcolm, phase pistol held before him, leaped inside.

The ear-splitting shriek a second later was the loudest one yet they'd heard from Violet, Hoshi thought. Whatever was being done to her must be horrible. Without a second's hesitation, Hoshi flew into the room, ready to back up Malcolm and try to save Violet's life.

Hoshi skidded to halt at the scene. Violet was sitting on her bunk like usual, the pillow once again clutched in her hands. Malcolm was standing frozen in the middle of the cabin, his pistol pointed at the intruder seated on Hoshi's bunk. The intruder, staring down the barrel of the pistol, had gone unnaturally pale.

"What are you tryin' to do, Malcolm?" Trip asked, his voice cracking. "Kill me?"

Malcolm slowly unfroze and lowered the pistol. "What are you doing in here?" he asked indignantly.

Trip frowned. "Since when is it against the law to stop by and say hello to someone?"

His anger not finding an outlet with the engineer, Malcolm whirled toward Violet. "Didn't we tell you not to open the door?"

"What the hell is goin' on?" Trip demanded as Violet, too scared to even stammer, shrank back from Malcolm.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Hoshi said. Addressing the men, she said, "Would you two please quit talking in questions only?"

Flinging the extra uniforms over the back of her chair, she sat down at her desk before her shaky legs gave out. They weren't dealing with an assassination attempt after all. This could be, however, almost as bad. Violet might have been able to carry off the deception and Trip would have been none the wiser, but Malcolm's pistol-wielding arrival had effectively circumvented that outcome.

Hoshi was wondering how much they should divulge when Trip said, "She's not a weapons development expert, is she?"

Malcolm looked at Hoshi, who shrugged. She couldn't see how they were going to get around not telling Trip the truth about Violet.

Turning back to Trip, Malcolm asked, "What gave her away?"

"We were talkin', and I asked her a few questions about weapons and engineering and such. Her answers were all textbook -- exactly what you'd get in a manual. She was just parrotin' answers, if you know what I mean."

"I... I, uh," Violet stuttered, startling the others and drawing their attention. "I didn't have anything to do in the armory office, so I looked at some of the books in there. I didn't understand much, but I can recite word for word what I read."

Hoshi hung her head and Malcolm let out a muttered curse. Violet's cover had been blown by the very thing that made her such a valuable witness -- her incredible memory.

Malcolm sat down heavily on the bunk next to Trip. "I still want to know why you opened the door in the first place," he said to Violet.

"I... I thought it was Hoshi," she said. At their blank looks, she added, "Well, I screamed the last time I was in here alone and she opened the door to come in. I didn't think you'd want me to do that again, and when I thought it was her ringing the chime, I--"

Recognizing a monologue in the making, Hoshi cut her off. "--and instead of me, it was Commander Tucker, and he charmed his way in. I can see how that could have happened, Violet."

"I thought you said your name was Jane," Trip said, looking at the woman.

Violet turned wide eyes to Hoshi, who looked to Malcolm and said, "You're the ranking officer for our assignment. Make a decision. Do we tell him or not?"

Malcolm rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he holstered the phase pistol with the other. "She's not in Starfleet."

"I kinda figured that out," Trip replied dryly.

"She's the star witness in the Thiera business conglomerate trial," Malcolm said.

Trip's eyes widened.

Without giving Trip time to comment, Malcolm hurried on, "There is the very real possibility that Ensign Smith's life is in danger. That's why Starfleet was asked to take her back to Earth for the trial. We are under orders to keep her presence on Enterprise a secret," he emphasized with a hard look at Trip. "Her cover is that she is a weapons development expert assigned to the ship."

Trip held up his hand. "You don't have to worry about me," he said. "I know how to keep a secret."

"I really didn't think there would be an attempt so soon," Malcolm said, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Hoshi put in, glancing at Violet and knowing what she was about to say would upset her. She told Malcolm about the unexplained sensor readings which the captain said might be another ship.

Sure enough, Violet squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the pillow tighter.

"Don't you worry," Trip hastened to reassure her, reaching across the narrow space between the bunks and patting Violet's knee. "Malcolm here is the best in the security business. Nobody's gonna get past him."

A devilish light came into Hoshi's eyes. Malcolm saw it and shot her a warning glare, which she ignored.

"So you didn't hear about Malcolm getting stunned by a phase pistol in the armory today?" Hoshi asked Trip innocently.

"Hoshi!" Malcolm said.

"You're kiddin'!" Trip said in amazement over Malcolm's protest. "How did that happen?"

"I...I did it," Violet said in a very small voice.

A huge grin broke out on Trip's face as he looked from Malcolm to Violet and back to Malcolm again. "She shot you? In the armory?"

Trying to salvage what was left of his dignity, Malcolm sought to change the subject. "If you're in on this, the least you can do is help run interference," he said to Trip.

"Sure thing. I'd be more than happy to help."

"Good," Malcolm said. "You can start this evening."

Hoshi was baffled. What was so important about this evening? And surely Malcolm didn't expect Trip to repel any intruders who might get on board. There was an entire security staff to handle something like that.

With a sly grin, Malcolm said, "We're going to have a run-in with Chef tonight at dinner."