twinkling.
"I'll take that as a challenge, Captain," Chakotay responded. He
headed for the door.
"And Chakotay?" He paused as the door slid open. "See if you can find
out the reason for this unrest?"
"Of course, Captain."
**********************
Malista Shadow answered the summons to Megan Delaney's quarters and
found the twins and Susan Nicoletti waiting for her. Megan insisted on
getting refreshments served before she would allow Jenny to begin her
first report on the results of their plan to get even with George
Natwick.
Megan finally settled on the couch next to Malista and nodded at her
sister.
"Finally," Jenny said with a pout. "You wouldn't believe it! We got
him! Boy, did we get him!"
"I don't understand," Shadow said. "All I did was walk by his quarters
and smile. What was the point of that?"
"Oh, I did all the hard work," Jenny scoffed. "After you left. He
noticed the door---"
"What about the door?" Nicoletti interrupted.
"I fiddled with the lock."
"She made it look like someone---Malista---had entered his quarters
without permission," Megan explained.
Malista was aghast. "He could have reported me for breaking and
entering!"
"But he wouldn't," Jenny said. "That's what I was counting on."
'Mama Bear' Nicoletti began to frown disapprovingly.
"Anyway, just about the time he was wondering what you'd been doing in
his quarters, innocent little me came along and sympathized with him,"
Jenny continued.
"Remember, at Sandrine's we told him that you were planning to get
even with him. He's been looking for some kind of trick from you. And
since we warned him, he's not expecting anything from us.
Misdirection," Megan added.
Jenny made a face at her sister. "Don't break my flow with flashbacks.
Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. He noticed the lock had been tampered
with. I was ready to offer all kinds of ideas about what you might
have been up to, but George had a few of his own. He actually went and
got a tricorder and scanned the door for booby traps before he opened
it!" She and Megan laughed.
Shadow smiled uneasily. Nicoletti's frown deepened.
"And then he spent forty-five minutes going over his quarters---inch
by inch, searching for the trick or tricks you'd pulled!" Megan
chortled.
"What kind of tricks?" Shadow asked blankly.
"He checked the bed---to be sure you hadn't short-sheeted it or
removed the supports---and all the other furniture for that matter!
Even the ceiling tiles and lighting fixtures! Then I batted my eyes
and said that if I was going to play a joke on someone I'd do
something to the soap. He ran the tricorder over every single item in
his quarters! Even his clothing! In fact, he thought of stuff WE never
thought of, right, Meg?" Jenny's laughter began to subside.
"I still don't get it. What did he think I'd done?"
Megan and Jenny exchanged glances. Some people just didn't have a
prankster mentality. "Switching his dentifrice with his hair cream.
Trick soap that stains the skin or contains an irritant. Shampoo laced
with dye. Fixing his plumbing fixtures to leak or reverse pressure or
change temperature," Jenny enumerated.
"Sabotaging his environmental controls, changing the gravity setting
in his quarters, scrambling his replicator, rigging the lighting
controls, causing his alarm to go off every hour---" Megan added to
the list, breaking off when she and Jenny noticed that Nicoletti and
Shadow appeared to be appalled rather than amused.
"What?" Jenny exclaimed defensively. "We didn't DO those things. We
just let him think we might have---sorry, that *you* might have. He
checked for every single one before he gave up. I bet he didn't relax
for hours though."
"Maybe days," giggled Megan.
"Jenny, this has to stop. I don't want you to do anything else to
George," Shadow stated. "I was mad at him at first---especially for
hitting Harry---but Harry doesn't hold a grudge. He says it's a guy
thing. But, I don't want George hurt---or upset. He really sort of did
me a favor when he turned me down---you know."
Jenny and Megan sighed in unison. "But part three of the plan---"
"I agree with Malista," Nicoletti commented. "I think you should stop
now. You had a little fun at Natwick's expense. That's enough."
"But why---"
"Because I think he really does care for Malista," Sue declared. "You
could seriously hurt his feelings if you keep this up."
"What?" Shadow stared at her friend in surprise. The idea that Natwick
might be seriously attracted to her had never even crossed her mind.
She still had trouble believing Harry found her attractive.
Nicoletti kept her eyes on the twins, trying to impress them with the
seriousness of the situation. "I think he likes you. Given some
encouragement from you, he might fall in love with you. It's not fair
to use that as a weapon against him for a joke."
"I don't know what to say. I never meant to---"
"I know you didn't, Malista," Sue added soothingly. "You didn't lead
him on---at least, not after that one night----well, never mind. Don't
worry about it. Just be no more than polite and I'm sure he'll get
over it. In time."
Jenny and Megan traded glances and came to an agreement. "Okay, Sue.
No more jokes."
"He might get over it faster, if someone else went after him," Jenny
suggested coyly. "Don't you think, Sue?"
Nicoletti felt a blush creeping up her cheeks.
Megan's eyes rounded. "I didn't think you liked him!"
"I don't---didn't." The lieutenant shrugged. "He's changed. Malista
had a good effect on him. She softened him up. Made him think about
the feelings of other people."
"So are you going after him?" Jenny inquired.
"I'm thinking about it," Nicoletti declared defiantly. "Any
objections?"
Her three friends shook their heads slowly. Malista smiled. "I think I
need to talk to George though. And tell him I'm NOT going to do
anything to him."
Jenny snorted. "I don't know if he'll believe you. Not after the way
we set it up. He'll think you're trying to lull him into a false sense
of security."
"You won't tell him it was all OUR idea?" Megan protested. She didn't
want reprisals coming back at them when they least expected it.
Paranoia was not a comfortable lifestyle.
"No, of course not," Shadow said soothingly. "Sue, would you go with
me to see him tomorrow?"
"Sure." The two of them got to their feet and left.
"Rats," Jenny muttered. "I had another really good idea, too."
"Save it for next time, Jen. There's bound to be someone else who will
tick us off soon enough," Megan said consolingly.
"True enough," her sister replied. With an evil smile she murmured,
"It's never wise to cross a Delaney. We Irish can hold grudges like
nobody's business."
"Well, we could go ahead and plan what we'll do to who
ever our next
victim will be," Megan suggested. "It wouldn't hurt to plan ahead. It
will save time." The two exchanged wicked grins and got out a
datapadd.
*********************
It was the middle of Beta shift. B'Elanna Torres was gleefully
writing her final report concerning the completion of Engineering's
last major project, the replacement of faulty power couplings in
almost every system in the ship.
Tom Paris was at loose ends. He had finished dinner and was on his way
to Holodeck Two to run some flight simulations he'd been working on.
He needed to test them for himself and classify them according to
level of difficulty before beginning to teach the next round of his
piloting course.
"Lieutenant Paris?" The voice came from behind him.
Tom stopped and turned to see Ensign Ethan Simms approaching. "Hello,
Ethe. What's up?"
"I was looking for you," Simms said, his face flushing, then he ground
to a halt, as if considering his words carefully.
>From the look on the young ensign's face, he had something to
say---and Tom had a feeling he didn't want to hear it. That look
reminded Paris of others he'd received---that usually preceded a
reference to either Caldik Prime or Tom's prison record. He'd seen
that look more times than he cared to remember.
"You found me," he replied casually. Paris' mask of politeness
descended and his body stiffened, aware of a slight twinge of
disappointment. He hadn't expected his past to be an issue with Ethan
Simms. He'd thought they'd moved beyond that with their shared
experiences on Voyager had created a positive relationship between
them. Tom considered Ethan a friend---and he'd thought it was mutual.
Paris' courteous, but suddenly distant, smile threw Simms off balance.
"Lieutenant?" he said cautiously.
"Yes?" The pilot waited patiently, bracing himself mentally for what
was to come.
"Could we talk? I mean, could I buy you a drink at Sandrine's? I want
to ask you a question," Simms said hesitantly. "I mean, if you have
the time? I'm on my lunch break."
Tom felt himself relaxing slightly. So it wasn't the usual thing? Tom
told himself he was being overly suspicious. Maybe Ethan just wanted
some advice on his relationship with Janine? Well, he could make time
for that. "Sure, Ethan," Paris replied. "I have a few minutes."
Simms waited until they were seated and had taken the first sip of
their raktajinos before speaking again. "I don't want you to take this
the wrong way, Lieutenant," he began.
"Tom. I'm off duty."
"Tom, I don't want you to think I'm being nosy---"
Paris studied him cautiously. "Ethan, I won't know what to think, if
you never finish a sentence. Come on. Out with it! Is this about the
betting pool? You want me to settle a bet?"
Ethan's fair complexion turned rosy in an instant. "No, sir! I mean, I
wouldn't ask about your, uh, personal life just to settle a bet!"
"I heard you and Mik really cleaned up!" Tom teased. "Betting that
Harry and Malista would get back together. Smart move."
Simms cleared his throat. "To tell you the truth, I have a question
about Malista---Crewman Shadow---but I don't want to---I'm not sure if
I should bring this up. I don't want to make trouble, so I didn't say
anything to Lieutenant Torres, but I thought you might know if there's
any reason---"
Tom's humor evaporated in an instant. "What about Malista?" he said
tersely. His protective instincts surged to the surface at the mention
of her name.
The younger man held up a placating hand. "It's not about the
rumors---the ones about you and her and Torres."
Paris lounged back in his chair, forcing himself to at least appear
relaxed. "So what is it about?"
"Do you know if Lt. Torres assigned---Is Malista supposed to be
working overtime?" Ethan blurted. The pilot raised an eyebrow at him.
"I mean---well, the thing is---Last week I was down in the
shuttlebay---and Malista was there working on one of the shuttles. She
said she was putting in a little overtime."
"So? Everyone does that now and then," the lieutenant commented.
"But that was when I was working Gamma shift," Ethan explained. "I
mean, she's assigned to Alpha shift. If she was going to put in
overtime, wouldn't that be during the beginning of Beta? Or the end of
Gamma, just before her Alpha shift started?"
Paris nodded slowly. "Yeah. That does seem odd. Maybe she had
insomnia?" Paris occasionally suffered from insomnia himself. It
seemed a logical supposition.
Simms shrugged and stirred his raktajino.
"Was that all? Or was there more to it?" Paris asked, trying to
interpret the other man's expression.
The ensign sighed and put down his mug. "I don't know if I should
mention it, Lieutenant, I mean, Tom. I may be wrong. I might be seeing
things that aren't there, you know? Sometimes Security men do that.
It's part of our training---being ready to prevent trouble before it
starts."
Paris leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and gazed at
the younger man intently. "Ethan, nothing you can tell me will hurt
Malista. I know the kind of gossip you've probably heard---" He waved
a hand to dismiss Simms' protest. "On a ship this size, gossip is a
fact of life. The problem is sorting the fact from the fiction. The
fact is this: As far as I'm concerned, I've adopted Malista Shadow as
my sister. That's the way I think of her. We're not romantically
involved. If anything, she's falling in love with my best friend,
Harry Kim. If there's anything I can do to help her, I want to know
about it."
Ethan looked Tom straight in the eye. "I don't know if it means
anything, but when I saw Malista in the shuttlebay, she seemed upset.
She tried to pretend everything was fine, but---I don't know exactly
what I mean. She's pretty good at hiding her feelings most of the
time, but I'm a trained observer and she was---rattled. She seemed
nervous. She jumped a foot when I came out of the shuttle."
Paris opened his mouth, but Simms continued, "I know. She's always
nervous around men. But she was never nervous around me before---at
least not after the first couple of weeks on Voyager---after we'd
spent some time together in the Security Office. And she was very
antsy in the shuttlebay, but she wouldn't talk to me or tell me why. I
didn't think much of it at the time, but the more I think about
it---Like I said, it may be nothing, but she's so---" He gave up on
words and shrugged. "She always looks like she's sure of herself and
in control, but it's just a front. She seems so---defenseless."
Paris dipped his head in acknowledgment. "I know. That's why I've
tried to help protect her. But she's trying to handle things on her
own now. She hasn't been confiding in me."
"I just thought I should tell someone. In case there is something
wrong. She couldn't be sleeping much. She was around a lot last week
during Gamma shif
t. I noticed---because I checked," Simms concluded,
getting to his feet.
"Thanks, Ethe." Paris stood and slapped the young man on the shoulder.
"I appreciate your concern. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of
it. You're a good friend. To me and to her." To Tom's amusement, Simms
blushed a fiery red.
"I felt like I kind of owed you one, sir. If it wasn't for you, Janine
might have gotten tired of anonymous love letters and gone after
someone who wasn't afraid to come right out and talk to her," he
confided.
A bark of laughter escaped Tom. "Ha! That's what you think, Ethan.
Don't tell her I told you, but Janine had your number from the time
Voyager left DS9! You never had a prayer of escaping!"
"Really?" He hoped the lieutenant wasn't kidding him. It was too good
to be true---that Janine had wanted him as much as he had wanted her.
"Really." Tom watched as Simms grinned and flew out of the holodeck as
if doing an impression of Hermes. The pilot shook his head. Had he
ever been that young? Sometimes he didn't think so. He sighed, then
slapped his commbadge. "Computer, location of Crewman Shadow?"
"Crewman Shadow is in her quarters," the bland voice replied.
Trials 04 Shadow's Trial Page 10
