CHAPTER 11

Hoshi brought Violet straight back to her cabin from the gym while Malcolm took Trip to sickbay. Considering Violet's talent for causing accidents and Trip's own natural ability to get into trouble, it wouldn't have been a smart move for the women to tag along to sickbay. There was no telling what else Violet could do to Trip, and Hoshi didn't want to have to explain to the captain why their chief engineer was dead.

Malcolm comm'd Hoshi later to say that Doctor Phlox had wound up re-bandaging Trip's burned fingers as well as splinting the broken one. Trip would be able to report to work the next day -- he just wouldn't be able to use his hands very well.

News of a mishap like Trip's traveled fast among gossip-hungry starship crew members. Hoshi wasn't up to facing the questions that would be sure to greet them in the mess hall at dinner, much less deflecting them from Violet. So she sweet-talked Chef into sending them dinner to her cabin. It wasn't difficult. All she had to do was tell him that Violet was too embarrassed to come to the mess hall to eat. So what if egotistical Chef had assumed Violet was upset about tripping him into the dessert? What Chef didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

And she hadn't really lied to Chef. Violet was terribly embarrassed. She had a huge crush on Trip and look what she'd done to him.

At the least, Violet's introspective mood made for a nice change of pace. She hardly uttered a word the rest of the evening. Hoshi enjoyed the quiet even as she worried about how to make Violet feel better.

She tried to get Violet to talk about it after they ate, but the other woman said she was tired and was going to turn in. Hoshi went to bed a short time later, hoping that after a good night's sleep, Violet would be in a better frame of mind in the morning.

Hoshi opened her eyes. She wasn't sure what had woken her. She lifted her head to look over at her roommate, but in the darkened cabin could only make out the outline of blankets over a body on the bunk. Gentle snores coming from the other bunk assured her Violet was there.

Hoshi put her head back on the pillow, only to hear the comm panel chirp. Climbing out of bed, she glanced at the chronometer. It must have been a previous chirp from the comm that had pulled her from her slumber, but who needed to talk to her at 0200?

She padded barefoot over to her desk and pushed a button. "Sato," she said sleepily.

"Ensign," came T'Pol's voice. "The sensor echo has returned, and it is closing on our position."

Hoshi instantly was wide awake. "Does Lieutenant Reed know?"

"Yes. He's on his way to your cabin to escort Ensign Smith to the armory."

That answers that question, Hoshi thought as T'Pol cut the connection. She had been wondering if they should stay in her cabin. She turned away from the desk to find Violet sitting up in bed.

"What's going on?" Violet asked, her voice groggy with sleep.

"The sensor echo is back," Hoshi said, "and it's headed toward us. It might be nothing, but no sense taking any chances." She turned on the light. "Get dressed. We're going to the armory as soon as Lieutenant Reed gets here."

She heard Violet gulp, but the woman quickly got out of bed.

Malcolm checked the charge on his phase pistol before leaving his quarters. He had to go down one deck to Hoshi's cabin, then they'd have to hustle to make it to the armory before whatever it was out there was close enough to do anything.

He'd been expecting some sort of attack on Violet, but he didn't think anyone with Earth connections -- which included the Theira business conglomerate -- would be stupid enough to try to destroy a Starfleet vessel. The repercussions would be too severe. No, this wouldn't be a hit-and-run type assault; rather, he expected a boarding party would try to snatch or kill Violet.

They were going to have to get by him first, he thought grimly as he exited the turbolift on C deck and trotted toward Hoshi's cabin.

He was pleased to find the women were dressed and waiting for him when he got there. Hoshi appeared concerned but alert. Violet looked like she usually did -- on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

They didn't speak as they left Hoshi's cabin. The silence continued during the turbolift ride and the short walk to the deserted armory. Malcolm went right to the weapons locker. He pulled out a phase pistol, put a power cell in it, and handed the gun to Hoshi. He hesitated, his hand hovering over another pistol, and looked at Violet. No, she'd probably wind up shooting him again, he decided, and withdrew his hand and slammed the door closed on the locker.

"Into my office with you two," he said.

"What about you?" Hoshi asked as she took an unprotesting Violet by the arm and started to lead her toward the office.

"I'll be out here, monitoring what's happening on the bridge," he said. "That should let us know of any attack or attempt to transport someone on board."

He climbed the short ladder to the elevated station overlooking the main armory and entered commands on the control panel there. Several screens lit up. One was a tie-in to the bridge and showed the same sensor readings that would be under scrutiny by the captain and T'Pol. The mysterious echo was still too far away to tell exactly what it was, but it was definitely getting closer.

Jon was standing in the command well in front of T'Pol's station as she gazed into her scanner's viewscreen. T'Pol had shifted her schedule so that she had been in charge of the night watch since their special passenger had come on board. Now it looked liked that precaution had paid off. She'd informed him immediately of the sensor echo's reappearance as well as alerting Malcolm to protect Violet. The late shift may not have been so quick to react, thereby losing valuable time to prepare for an attack.

"Getting definite readings from the object now," said T'Pol. "Spherical. No more than two meters in diameter. No lifesigns." She lifted her face from the scanner and looked at him. "It may be an unmanned probe or reconnaissance craft."

A beep from the communications console caught their attention. The crewman manning that station said, "It's sending a signal."

"What is it?" Jon asked, moving over to sit down in his command chair.

The crewman shook his head as he fiddled with buttons on the console, and Jon wished Hoshi was on the bridge. "Tie in the UT," Jon ordered, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

In the armory, Malcolm was eavesdropping on what was happening on the bridge. He reached over to the internal comm panel, pushed a button, and said, "Hoshi! Get out here. We're picking up a signal from that thing."

The door to his office opened and Hoshi stepped out, followed by a wary Violet. They made their way to the elevated platform and climbed the ladder. Hoshi peered at the readouts and asked, "Can you put the signal on audio?"

Malcolm flicked a switch, and repetitive beeping and clicking sounds came over the speakers. Hoshi tilted her head to the side, listening, then quickly keyed in some commands to the ship's database and checked the information that popped up on one of the screens. She listened to the signal for a few moments longer and sighed.

"I don't believe it," she said.

"What?" Malcolm asked.

"It's a primitive binary code," she said. "My guess is we're being contacted by a satellite of some pre-warp society, similar to long-range satellites Earth sent out in the 20th century. You know -- 'We come in peace' and so forth."

"Are you sure?" Malcolm asked, not yet ready to let down his guard.

Hoshi leaned her hip against the console and crossed her arms over her chest. "Communications officers study this sort of thing in Starfleet training," she said. "They wanted us to be able to recognize friendly overtures of other species. We better let the bridge know."

As Malcolm called the bridge and relayed the information, Hoshi stepped over to where Violet was standing. The woman had been white as a sheet, but now a little color was beginning to seep back into her complexion.

"It's all right. We can go back to my cabin," Hoshi said, glacing over at Malcolm to see him nodding in agreement at her statement.

As they climbed down the ladder, Violet asked shakily, "Does this happen a lot? I mean, coming across unknown things in space?"

Hoshi smiled. "Not a lot, but often enough to keep us on our toes."

Violet made a noise that sounded like a whimper, and Hoshi sighed. They still had a week to go before reaching Earth.

It wasn't until they were almost all the way back to the cabin that Hoshi realized Violet hadn't made one klutzy move during the entire incident.