2
Launch Bay One, F Deck, 0930 hours, August 16 2151
"So, what do you think?" She twirled on the narrow metal catwalk, creating a breeze which gently lifted her skirt into the air and caused the fabric to flare and spread out.
She was wearing a cream-colored bodice which laced up in front, revealing the pale green of her loose tunic between the laces. The tunic's sleeves flowed down to just past her elbows, ending in soft furls of fabric which brushed against her skin whenever she moved, and she had a dark green cloak hanging down from her shoulders. Her skirt was floor length, a deep wine color and some parts of the fabric were translucent, revealing the curve of her legs.
But the skirt wasn't what the men reacted to. Their attention was focused on her bodice; more specifically, on the fact that it was rather low cut and revealed a good four centimeters of cleavage.
Trip's jaw practically hit the deck plating and he was speechless for a while, but it only took Reed a few moments to find his voice. "You look... amazing."
A grin splashed across her face. "Thank, sir. You look pretty good yourself."
He did, too. Reed had on fairly loose brown pants, a leather belt and a red tunic which laced up slightly at the neck, as well as a hooded burgundy cloak. Trip was wearing the same basic outfit as Reed but his tunic was pale blue, his cloak was dark bluish green, and a leather strap was fastened diagonally across his chest from one shoulder to his belt. Both of them looked very good, almost like they belonged at some slightly off renaissance fair.
When Trip finally spoke, it wasn't what she had hoped to hear. "Are y' sure dressin' like that is such a good idea?"
She gave him an annoyed look and put one hand on her hip, taking the liberty to tut him in a disapproving way.
"You were expecting me to dress like a nun? Sir, you should know me better than that by now."
Trip looked over to Reed for support. "Well, Ensign, it might cause some complications... "
"Am I interrupting anything?"
Captain Archer came into the launch bay wearing a purple-gray tunic, the same type of brown pants as the other men, and his cloak was a dark grey. There was a knowing expression on his face and Trip could tell that he was holding back a big grin.
The Captain loved exploring new planets and, even though it was silly, he and the rest of the crew enjoyed having to go incognito. Most of them hadn't played dress-up since they were kids, so now every time they had to wear what Sub-commander T'pol called 'indigenous apparel', the crewmen who were chosen for the away team would act like it was Halloween.
Trip grinned after looking Archer up and down. "You look good, Cap'n. The pod's been prepped already, we just needed the pilot to show up."
They all boarded the shuttle pod and flew down to the planet, landing a few kilometers outside the city and then heading towards it on foot, trying to work out their cover story on the way.
They decided to say that their group was visiting the capital as part of a tour for the benefit of a baron's daughter who was about to enter an arranged marriage and wanted to do some traveling before her wedding. The men were supposed to be her bodyguards on this trip since that was the only appropriate reason for a young unmarried woman of rank to be traveling with three men.
Although this planet was technologically advanced, their society appeared to be at a stage of development comparable to fifteenth century Earth. This wasn't the first time the crew had encountered this kind of incongruity, but most of the worlds they had seen so far had developed along similar lines to Earth's history, with social, scientific and technological strides being made during certain periods of general growth and awakening. For example, the Renaissance, American and French Revolutions and the Industrial Revolution.
This was no stone-age society; they had some nuclear and combustion-powered spaceflight but no warp engines, although they seemed fairly close to developing the technology. Taking this into consideration, T'pol had recommended that the away team try to stay inconspicuous while they observed the planet's inhabitants, so the team needed a convincing story if anyone asked where they were from, what their occupations were, etc.
While they traversed the woods, taking scans of the local flora and fauna, a reading caught Jean's eye. She headed over to the base of a large tree-like plant, where the scanner had said that a small mamalian creature was hiding in the underbrush.
A grey, furry thing with black bulging eyes and a rapidly twitching nose poked its head out between some leaves, and Jean had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle a delighted squeal.
Reed heard the muffled sound and came over to her quickly, his feet barely making a sound on the forest floor. "Ensign, what is it?"
She grinned, her eyes shining with wonder. "Alien squirrel!" she said in a stage whisper. Before Reed could stop her, she rummaged around in the leather pouch at her hip and drew out a bit of granola. She cupped the grains in her palm, bending down to let the small fuzzy critter examine her offering.
"C'mere, little guy. See what I have for you?"
The creature disappeared into the leaves for a moment, but when the larger creature (aka Jean) made no move to hurt or grab it, it slowly crept out from under the bush to sniff at her hand. Jean was crouching on the ground, sitting back on her heels, while Reed muttered disapprovingly from miles above her.
"This animal might very well be hostile, or it could carry any number of diseases…"
She huffed out an annoyed breath, causing some of the hairs resting on her forehead to fly upwards. Sometimes, his overly cautious nature really got on her nerves. "Scan it, then, if you're so worried."
Reed, still muttering to himself, took out his scanner and dutifully began making sure that the small fuzzy creature posed no threat. He was still busy doing that when Archer and Trip came over.
"We were wondering where you disappeared to-"
Jean cut Trip off with a hissed 'shush!' and her tiny friend froze for a moment, examining the new large creatures. Its nose twitched, whiskers flicking rapidly from side to side, and its three eyes blinked nervously.
"It's okay, little guy. We don't want to hurt you."
The creature seemed reassured by her soothing tone, and it rested two of its six tiny paws on the side of her cupped hands. The forwardmost paws busied themselves in scrubbing at its head and neck, much the same way that hamsters and mice from Earth do to clean themselves. The hindmost paws remained on the ground, supporting the creature's weight, and a small lithe tail with a tuft of purple hair on the end of it twitched back and forth in a slow, almost rhythmic way.
"Wow," Trip breathed. "Look at 'im!"
Jean grinned. "I know… so much cuter than Sluggo."
Reed cleared his throat, glancing first at his friend, then at the captain. "The creature appears to not be a carrier of any disease organisms or to have any harmful compounds in its anatomy, captain."
Archer nodded his understanding and pressed his lips together to suppress a snort of laughter. Leave it to Reed to conduct a threat-analysis of a hexapodal squirrel.
"Thank you, Mr. Reed. Ensign,"
She didn't turn around for fear of spooking the creature, and she kept her voice low for the same reason. "Yes sir?"
Archer smiled, chuckling at the sight of their new little friend nibbling at a clump of dried blueberries which rested in the middle of Jean's palm. "I believe this may be our first contact with an alien species which will be totally without incident."
Trip grinned. "Cap'n, can we keep him?"
Jean glanced at him sidelong. "I think 'Sextus' is a good name, considering his six legs."
"Actually," Reed quietly cleared his throat, "my scans shown that 'he' is androgenous."
Sextus choose that moment to spring into Jean's palm, sending some granola flying when he landed and making her wobble slightly in her crouch. Trip put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.
Archer looked around at his people, all intently watching the alien critter, and gave a slow nod. "Trip, I don't see why not… as long as you take him for walks and change his newspapers."
"Ya hear that, Sextus, you're gonna have a new home…" Trip reached out a finger to gently pet the animal's head, and at his touch it started to make a gentle cooing noise. It sounded almost like a metallic version of a Mourning Dove.
Reed made a soft sound, shaking his head and glancing around to make sure that no locals were approaching. "And how will we transport our little friend back to Enterprise?"
Trip chuckled, watching as Sextus flopped over onto his back in Jean's hands, waggling all six of his tiny feet in the air when the engineer started tracing a circle in its soft belly fur. "Maybe he'll come with us on his own. An' if he gets scared, we've got containers back on the pod that have air holes, like the one we used for Sluggo. I'm not sure we'll need that, though. You wanna come with me, don'tcha, little guy?"
Sextus chirped, following Trip with his eyes when the man moved to get up. The animal seemed to think about its next move for a second, and then like a flash it scrambled up Trip's arm to perch on the man's shoulder. Trip beamed triumphantly, the grin getting even wider at Reed's wide-eyed expression of disbelief.
"Gentlemen, I do believe we're in the presence of the hexapodal-squirrel charmer," Archer declared. "Now, lets get into town and explore the culture of the bipedal inhabitants."
They walked towards the city, Sextus looking around curiously. It had been up this high before, of course, but the plants it climbed had never moved through the forest, and it studied the new viewpoint with evident interest.
Jean shook her head at Trip. "So, where is the little fuzzy going to sleep?"
Trip only thought about it for a moment before breaking into a grin, his eyes twinkling. "I think my antique diving helmet'd be perfect. Small enough to make the little guy feel cozy, an' its up high, so it'll be kinda like sleepin' in a nest in the trees."
Reed shook his head, smirking wryly. "I'm so very glad you didn't find something the size of a koala, Jean. He would have decided to convert his locker into split-level housing."
They all laughed at the quip, and Jean gave him a warm smile. It looked like this was turning out to be one of those fabled trouble-free away missions the crew had only heard tell of.