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Lieutenant Reed looked up as Hoshi stepped into the Armoury, a smile crossing his face.
“Good evening, Ensign,” he greeted. “You’re right on time.”
“Good evening, Lieutenant,” Hoshi returned his greeting politely. Her hands were a little damp; nervous, she rubbed them against her uniform as she walked toward him, stopping as she realised his keen grey eyes were taking in every movement. The corner of his mouth quirked slightly, and he dropped his gaze back to the phase pistol he was preparing for use in the upcoming practice session.
“You seem a little anxious tonight, Ensign,” he said, seemingly addressing the pistol as he concentrated on inserting the power cell.
“A little, sir,” she admitted. “My track record with these isn’t that good, and the last time we had a session, we ended up on that Klingon ship and almost died being crushed in a gas giant.”
He looked up at that, and tilted his head at her. “But we weren’t crushed, and it was thanks to your quick thinking and insistence on using all the torpedoes that we survived.”
A flush crossed her cheeks. “Yes, sir. But I also defied a direct order, and I wanted to apologise for that, and thank you for not putting me on report.”
A surprised chuckle escaped him before he could stop it. “Putting you on report? After you saved our lives? I would hardly be so ungrateful.” Snapping the pistol closed, he carefully placed it on the table in front of him. A shadow crossed his face. “You must consider me a real taskmaster if you thought I would act so churlishly.”
Oh no, no, she’d insulted him. “Not at all, sir,” Hoshi said hastily. “It’s not you. You’ve always been so good to me. It’s just-” she hesitated, then rushed on pell-mell, “I tend to have a habit of getting into trouble with my senior officers.” She reached the table and stopped, looking down studiously at the phase pistols and avoiding his eyes.
“You can hardly end on a statement like that, Ensign,” the lieutenant said, his voice carefully neutral. “What kind of trouble?”
She fidgeted with her fingers, not looking up. “Well, I’ve not really been diplomatic in my dealings with Subcommander T’Pol, and she’s made no bones about occasionally finding it … difficult working with me.”
“I think you may find that the subcommander feels differently, but either way, that’s not exactly getting into trouble with a senior officer.” His tone gave nothing away, but he was clearly waiting for the real reason.
Hoshi fretted momentarily. She was friends with Travis and Trip, and could tell them her silly shenanigans, but despite his rather forbidding demeanour, Lieutenant Reed had been a constant support since her first day on Enterprise, and she didn’t want to spoil the shine. Oh well, she’d been silly enough to broach the subject and offend him into the bargain, so it was up to her to come clean.
“I-um, I … I broke my company commander’s arm and got thrown out of Starfleet,” she mumbled. “They let me back in on probation because they needed linguists.”
There was a momentary silence.
“You … broke your commander’s arm … and got thrown out of Starfleet?” the lieutenant repeated slowly, as if feeling out the words. Her face aflame, Hoshi nodded, feeling a fool. “May I ask why?”
“I, er, I was running a poker game and he didn’t like that and tried to stop me.” Her nose wrinkled. “It’s not like I was breaking the rules either,” she said in an aggrieved tone. “I made sure to only do it on weekends and not during duty hours. I think he was just angry that I wouldn’t let him join.” She glared mutinously at the phase pistols, as if they were the direct cause of her past predicament.
A choked splutter from the direction of Lieutenant Reed startled her into remembering where she was. When she looked up, the armoury officer was coughing into his elbow, most of his face covered. His eyes met hers, and his coughing fit seemed to worsen.
“Sir! Are you okay?” Hoshi asked worriedly, rounding the table to check on him. “Can I get you some water?”
“No, no, Ensign, I’m fine,” the lieutenant said in a strangled voice, waving her off. “Just got something in my throat, that’s all.” He emerged from behind his arm, a touch red in the face. His lips seemed a little pinched, as though he was holding something in. Hopefully just more coughing, Hoshi thought to herself. Not judgement about me having attacked a senior officer. She didn’t think she could bear it if Lieutenant Reed thought poorly of her because of her own lack of self-control.
The lieutenant seemed to have regained control of himself, and indicated that she should join him behind the table. “I’m going to set the test for ten seconds again, Ensign. We’ll start off a little slower this time to get you back into the swing of it, alright?”
“Yes, sir,” Hoshi agreed. She felt a little uncertain about the phase pistols, knowing that her abilities weren’t the best; but to be fair, she’d improved beyond her dismal forty percent hit rate, to about forty-five, so there was hope.
Lieutenant Reed picked up one of the closed phase pistols and handed it to her. “I’ve already fitted this one with the practice cell,” he said. “It’s fully charged, so take your stance now.” He tapped his PADD and the practice ball rose into the air on the other side of the room, hovering in one place as though awaiting instruction.
Hoshi took the phase pistol in both hands, raising it to shoulder level and gripping the weapon tightly. She had to do better this session, she thought fiercely. She couldn’t remain incompetent with the weapons meant to keep her safe, certainly not in front of the weapons master himself.
“You’re too tense, Ensign,” came the lieutenant’s quiet voice. “Your entire body’s on edge, even your jaw’s clenched, and your grip on the pistol is going to throw off your aim. Here,” he said, placing his hand over hers and lowering the pistol slightly. “Roll your shoulders and your neck a little until they loosen. Bring your feet a little closer together, until you feel steady, and release your knees. No, don’t bend them. Just loosen your stance - like when you’re standing in a queue in the mess hall, listening to Travis wax lyrical about being a boomer.” That surprised a laugh out of her, and she felt her entire body relax for an instant.
“That’s it,” he said encouragingly, a hint of mirth in his tone. “Much better. Loosen your grip on the pistol - good, just like that.” He picked up the PADD and reset the program. “Ready?” She nodded, and he said, “Go!” and pressed the button.
The little spinning ball gyrated randomly, and she felt as though more than a few of the shots had gone home, but she knew she wasn’t moving fast enough to be accurate. That was confirmed when Lieutenant Reed read out her score.
“Still under 50 percent, Ensign, though you did score 48 instead of 45 this time.”
Hoshi tipped back her head and groaned, and the lieutenant grimaced in sympathy. Then he put the PADD on the table and stepped forward.
“Let’s try something. Let your wrists soften so the pistol points toward the ground. Yes, that’s good,” he said, as the weapon sagged a little in her hands. “Not too loose - right. Now roll your hands up gently and firm your grip. No, that’s still a little too tight.”
Hoshi sighed in frustration. “I’m never going to get this right!” she muttered. “I can’t even hold the pistol correctly! I feel so useless.”
“What did I tell you about denigrating yourself and your abilities, Ensign?” asked Lieutenant Reed, one eyebrow cocked. She flushed in embarrassment.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” Hoshi mumbled, her eyes unable to meet his.
“No need to apologise, Ensign. I know it’s frustrating, and frankly, I need to figure out what I’m doing wrong that’s got you so tense every time you come in for a session.”
That got her attention, and she swung startled eyes to his face. “It’s not your fault, sir! I would hardly blame you because I’m having trouble with this.”
“You might not, but part of my job is giving instruction, and it doesn’t seem to be working in this instance. I need to figure out what will work, for your sake and mine.” His eyes crinkled a little at the corners, though his mouth was set in a straight line as he looked at her consideringly. “Maybe I’ve been approaching this all wrong.” He reached out and carefully took the phase pistol from her grip, setting the safety and laying it down on the table. “I keep preparing the pistols for you so everything is ready when you walk in. Maybe that’s the wrong thing to do. So starting now, we’re going to get you used to the phase pistols from scratch so they don’t feel so strange in your hands, especially since you’re used to the EM-33.”
Hoshi nodded. “Okay; what do I do?”
“First, you’re going to break it open by pressing these two studs on either side, at the same time. Here, start with an empty one so you can go through the entire process.” He handed her a pistol from the far end of the table, showing her which clips to push.
Hoshi’s hands were just large enough to reach both clips at once, and she pressed on them with one hand while bearing down with the other. With a bit of pressure and a slight click, the pistol broke apart smoothly, hinging outward to reveal an open, empty space in the middle. She let out a little cry of satisfaction and looked up, grinning, at her instructor, who smiled back at her.
“Good job, Ensign. Now, check the charging bay and weapons chamber - they should both be empty. Place a weapons cell into the chamber - this one is made of blanks, for training purposes.” He handed her one and watched her position it carefully. “Place a new power cell into the chamber.” He handed her another cell and she slotted it into place, giving a little crow of gratification as the cell lit up red. His mouth quirking at her pleased expression, Lieutenant Reed continued with his instructions. “Is the charge steady? Yes? Then close the pistol and push until it snaps into place. Good. Now check that the safety’s on and then make sure the pistol is set to stun.”
“Done, sir,” Hoshi reported, a note of satisfaction in her voice. “I felt the weight change that time. Shall we try a round?”
“Of course, Ensign,” the lieutenant agreed, smiling slightly. “Twenty seconds this time. Ready?” She nodded as she took up her stance, and he noted that she was already looser and more confident in her movements. “Then - go!”
Hoshi sighted and shot smoothly, the sphere growing green more often than not, and lowered the pistol as the tactical officer called time, keeping it pointed toward the floor. She knew he expected proper gun safety to be followed, especially in his armoury. “That felt a lot better,” she remarked. “How’d I do?”
Lieutenant Reed looked up from his PADD, nodding in satisfaction. “Excellently, Ensign. I’m pleased to tell you that your success rate was up ten percent, to fifty-five percent this time.” He let himself grin as Hoshi’s mouth formed an “o” of pleased surprise.
“Who’d have thought such a small thing would have such a big impact?” she wondered aloud. Then she flushed a little. “Well, obviously you did, sir,” she said hastily.
The lieutenant winked, causing Hoshi’s mouth to drop a little further. Not only had he grinned, now he was winking? This was a day to remember!
“Shall we try one more round and see if you can improve on your score?” he asked. Hoshi nodded at once.
“Yes, please!”
Malcolm smothered a chuckle at her eagerness, setting the timer for thirty seconds. He was pleased that she didn’t let her newfound confidence turn into overconfidence as she aimed and fired smoothly at the sphere, hitting it more often than not.
“Very well done, Ensign,” he praised Hoshi as she lowered the phase pistol, a smile on her lips. “You reached a full sixty percent with that round. Keep it up and we’ll make a marksman of you yet.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said, beaming. “And I do mean thank you. If you hadn't thought to get me more comfortable with the phase pistols, I probably wouldn’t have reached that score - certainly not tonight. You’re a good instructor.” She set the safety on the phase pistol and carefully set it down on the table.
The tactician gave an embarrassed cough, but smiled, pleased at the praise, though she could see the tips of his ears turning pink.
“I’m glad we found something that works, and works so well at that,” he conceded. “I’ll be sure to add it to my other training sessions.” He reached for the phase pistol, switching it off and taking it and the others to the charging station. “Next time we might try a phase rifle. We’ll see how it goes,” he said over his shoulder.
Hoshi cleared her throat. “Lieutenant? I’m headed for dinner. Would you care to join me?” Her voice was carefully diffident, though if he’d been looking, he would have seen her twitching fingers betray her sudden nerves as she watched him hesitate, his back still toward her.
Malcolm turned, looking thoughtful. “Just dinner,” she clarified hastily, before he could speak. “Between colleagues. That shouldn’t be too awkward, right?”
For a moment his eyebrow lifted and she held her breath. Then another grin broke across his face, and he nodded. “Why not? I’d be pleased to have dinner with you - Hoshi.” As her own eyebrows rose in surprise, he winked. “We’re officially off-duty as of two minutes ago.”
Hoshi beamed again. “Well then, sir, shall we freshen up and meet at the mess in, say, thirty minutes?”
“Certainly, Hoshi,” he said, ushering her toward the door, one hand at her back. “But I insist that you call me Malcolm while we’re off duty. It’s only fair.” He smiled down at her as he politely gestured for her to precede him.
Hoshi twinkled up at him. “Malcolm,” she said, trying out his name as she stepped through the door. “See you in half an hour?”
“Indeed,” he agreed as they parted ways. “And maybe you can tell me more about breaking your company commander’s arm.” Mischief danced in his voice and a blush rose in her cheeks as his chuckle followed her down the corridor. He clearly wasn't going to let her forget that little misstep.
Still, she grinned to herself as she hurried to her quarters. A friendship had to start somewhere, after all, and perhaps an in-joke wasn't the worst beginning.