The BLTS Archive - Strange Relationship:
#2: Shadows
by Kalita Kasar (kalitafic@hotmail.com)

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Spoiler Warning: Shadows of P'Jem

Archive: Those with previous permissions Yes! All others please ask
first.

Disclaimer: I don't own them. They were born in other creative minds,
but they keep intruding into mine, so what's a girl to do? I don't
make any money from this, tis but a labour fraught with love...theirs
and mine.

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Malcolm Reed stood by a console in the armoury reviewing a set of
calibrations for the phase canons. He sighed as he glanced at the data
pad in his hand, and compared the calculations there with what was
displayed on the console screen.

"It's still off by three microns," he muttered to no one in
particular. His brows knitted in frustration and he shook his head.
Nothing was going right for the lieutenant today. Had he allowed
himself such folly, he would have thought that it was somehow
connected to his bad luck with the date with Trip the night before,
but Malcolm would never entertain such superstitious ballyhoo. His bad
day had nothing to do with that; it was mere coincidence.

The fact that he hadn't slept much the previous night *might* have
something to do with it, but that was as far as the connection went.
He refused to let his mind run away with him on the subject.

Frowning, Malcolm moved to another station and tapped in a series of
commands. He would run another simulation and see if he could spot
what was making this targeting scanner malfunction so often. This had
to be about the tenth time this week he had realigned the damn thing,
and he was becoming increasingly frustrated with it.

When the comm. panel chirped at his side, Malcolm nearly jumped out of
his skin.

"Bridge to Lieutenant Reed."

Reaching for the button, Malcolm didn't take his eyes off the
simulation he was running. "Reed here,"

"The captain and Sub Commander T'Pol are going down to the surface of
Coridan. Captain Archer wants you to prepare shuttlepod 1," Hoshi's
voice said.

"Acknowledged." Malcolm released the button and shut down the
simulation. Laying the data pad on a console, he walked out of the
armoury and headed for the launch bay.

Malcolm's heart stopped for a beat when he walked into the launch bay
to find Trip Tucker already there. He hesitated for a moment then
straightened his shoulders and moved to a console, keeping his eyes
averted. "Good morning, Commander," he said evenly.

"Lieutenant." Trip's voice was formal and the commander didn't turn to
look at him. Reed sighed softly with relief and commenced to work at
the console, relieved that Trip was going to keep things on a
professional level.

They worked in silence to prepare the small craft for flight, and when
it was done, Malcolm moved to a weapons locker, taking out phase
pistols and checking them over before handing one off to Trip. He
paused and raised an eyebrow when Trip shook his head.

"I won't be needin' it," Trip said. "The Cap'n's not taking me on this
one."

"Oh." Malcolm replaced the pistol, but he pushed the other one he held
into a holster at his hip. He handed two more pistols to Archer and
T'Pol when they arrived. "I've checked them and they are working
properly," he said as he fell in alongside Archer.

The captain turned to look at him with a smile. "Well done, Malcolm."
He nodded in dismissal and turned to T'Pol. "Let's go."

"Sir?" Malcolm was surprised. He took a half step forward. "Do you
think it is wise to...?"

"Malcolm, Coridan has a long association with the Vulcans," Archer
said, pausing to look over his shoulder. "We've been invited to meet
with the Coridan Chancellor. I don't anticipate any trouble." He
turned away, moving towards the shuttlepod and Malcolm sighed.

 "Yes, sir." He turned and moved out of the launch bay with Trip.

Once the doors of the small flight control centre closed behind them,
Trip turned to look at him. "You didn't answer my messages."

"I've been busy, Commander." Malcolm moved to a console, preparing to
open the launch bay doors.

"Right." Trip's voice held a heavy edge of disbelief.

Malcolm ignored it, focussing on the controls in front of him.

"Malcolm." Trip moved to stand in front of the console, watching as
the lieutenant opened the launch doors and the shuttlepod cleared the
bay. "We need to talk things out. You can't just..."

"Excuse me, Sir." Malcolm looked up and met the blue eyes of the chief
engineer. "I have a lot to attend to, today." He nodded briefly and
stepped away from the console, moving towards the lift. He was brought
up sharply and winced with pain as a strong hand closed around his
upper arm.

"I'm not gonna drop this, Malcolm," Trip said. He swung the lieutenant
around to face him. "I wanna see you in my quarters after shift."

"Is that an order?" Malcolm watched as the blue eyes registered shock,
and then rage. He stared at Trip, unmoving for several moments;
watching as the commander seemed to make a great effort to contain his
temper.

"Of all the low down stinkin'..." Trip began, and then he stopped as a
comm. panel beeped.

"Bridge to Commander Tucker." It was Travis Mayweather's voice.

Trip moved to the panel and thumbed the button. "Tucker here." He
glanced at Malcolm, sending him a look that dared him to budge one
inch from where he'd left him.

"Sir, the shuttlepod has disappeared from sensors, and the captain
isn't responding to hails," Travis said over the comms. "We can't
locate the shuttlepod, but it went down before it reached the
designated landing site."

Blue eyes met grey across the room. "Lieutenant Reed and I are on our
way to the bridge," Tucker said. "Do what you can to contact the
Captain." He released the comm. button and walked to the lift; all
thoughts of his dispute with Malcolm were pushed aside in the face of
the emergency.

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The End