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The roasted vegetables were perfect, caramelised and seasoned just the way he liked them. Chris gave the tray a shake and plopped it down on the counter with a satisfied smile. That was the last dish, dinner was almost ready.
All that was missing was...
His door chimed.
Ah, that would be La'an.
Una let the security chief in, and La'an headed straight his way. Her lips were set in a straight line, and her arms and shoulders were as tense as steel rods. Chris took one look at her and began to pour a generous glass of wine.
He passed it over the counter to her. "You look like you could use a drink."
The security chief grunted an affirmative, took the glass of wine and gulped half the glass in one.
Damn, La'an wasn't messing around.
Una raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow, sharing a look with him. Pike shrugged and started to refill the wine decanters.
"You're late, very unlike you." Una probed.
"I couldn't find a clean uniform, mine were all suddenly covered in tiny hairs."
"Tiny hairs?"
La'an shrugged. "Hell if I know where they came from, but my whole quarters seems to be covered in dog hairs."
Pike leaned over the counter, elbows on the work surface. "You don't think we have any unexpected passengers?"
"No, Captain. The internal sensors were my first call. I called up Hemmer to double-check the systems but he couldn't find any abnormalities either."
"I bet he loved that." Una dead-panned, swirling the red liquid in her glass.
Pike snorted and shook his head, returning to the herbs he was chopping. "Just another clue then."
"A clue?" Una asked.
"To what happened during the missing 5 hours." Chris sliced coriander leaves and then sprinkled the herb over the spiced potato dish. "You've seen the reports of irregularities all over the ship, things out of place, bruises and marks people have no knowledge of."
He stopped slicing as his brows knitted together to form a deep frown. "I woke up in the cargo bay with what looked like rope burns on my wrists. Still can't remember what caused it."
Una looked at him in alarm. "You didn't tell me about the burns?"
He waved her off. "They were minor."
"I don't like it." Una's eyes narrowed, and she rubbed her forehead in distress. "It's bad enough losing time but weird things keep popping up all over the ship."
"Agreed. But I don't see what else we can do except stay vigilant. La'an's already had her people do 2 full ship searches-"
"3." La'an interrupted, munching on a carrot.
When had she managed to get past his guard? He narrowed his eyes at the stolen food, La'an didn't flinch.
"Slave-driver," Una muttered.
La'an shrugged. "We're missing 5 hours, I want answers."
"Well, we're not going to find them waiting for this food to go cold. Grab a dish." Chris picked up two dishes and headed toward the dining table.
"Dinner's ready kids!" He called out to the sitting area, where Chapel, Uhura and Spock were in deep discussion.
The 'kids' all grabbed food and drinks and settled around the table in their usual spots. Noone grumbled at the nickname, having heard it one too many times already.
Chris started to dish up the house salad, directing a question to the end of the table. "How is everyone down in sickbay?"
Christine pushed her hair out of her face, her lips pinched together. "They're fine, but we have no idea why we keep finding people with arrow wounds."
Una had been about to eat a mouthful of greens but held it just shy of her lips. "Arrows? That wasn't in the report."
"Well, we're not exactly sure they were made from arrows seeing as there's no sign of any on board but Doctor M'Benga called them arrow wounds and you have to admit they look just like them."
"Hmm." Una mused, finally taking the bite she had postponed. She made a pleased noise, nodding at the food. "This is delicious, Chris."
Pike smirked at the compliment, digging into his own plate with relish.
"The sensors have been utterly useless," Uhura complained.
Spock returned the ladle to the Captain's famous roasted tomato soup. He tilted his head in thought. "The lack of sensor data is data in itself."
Uhura shook her head, tapping the tabletop with one very long nail. "That's so helpful, thank you, Spock."
Christine snorted, covering her mouth to keep the soup inside.
"You are welcome."
Chris shared a bemused smile with Uhura. Sarcasm was still often lost on the Vulcan.
"Uhura, where on earth did you find those nails?" The first officer leaned over La'an to get a better look at the beautiful talons.
Of course, Una would notice the nails too, she had taken up a whole section of his bathroom with various nail varnishes and stickers - you know, just for when she ended up staying over to finish work. It made sense for her to have a few things here, they often had a lot of work to do...
Further chatter snapped Pike out of that destructive thought process.
"I woke up with them on." Uhura cleared her throat and bit her bottom lip. "They're probably a bit much but I really like them."
"They're gorgeous." Una gushed over the design, easing Uhura's concerns.
Chris looked at the elegant nails and paused, there was something familiar about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He hated this feeling like something was missing.
"There are worse ways to wake up with 5 hours missing." Chapel pointed out, waving her fork around as she chuckled. "I had frogs legs in my hand when I came to."
Everyone stopped eating and looked to the other end of the table. The blonde nurse carried on chewing away as though she hadn't said anything of note. She also seemed oblivious to the disgusted expressions spreading around the dinner table.
"Frogs legs," Chris repeated, surely not?
Chapel noticed the stares, and frowned, not understanding the sudden mood change. "Yeah, I assumed M'Benga was trying out some new treatments." She went right back to eating, whilst the rest of the table shared concerned looks.
"Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder." Number One drawled.
Pike locked eyes with La'an, an unspoken agreement passing between the two. There would need to be another sweep of the ship. The paperwork this was gonna create... It wasn't worth thinking about.