to let her hide in her quarters. If she's going to be a woman and not
a child, she has to learn to deal with this kind of thing herself.
She can't come crying to you every time a man looks at her cross-
eyed. With her looks, she'd better get used to being ogled," Torres
said.
"One other thing," Kim added, "Malista has the defensive moves
down pat. She's good, but she's not aggressive enough. I mean, even
in practice. She wouldn't come at me. She seemed to be afraid she'd
hurt me. When I attacked her, it was the same thing. She hardly
fought back. She pulled her punches and kicks. Maybe Natwick was
right. Maybe my height is an issue with her."
"Nitwit Natwick right about anything? I doubt it." Torres
finished the last bite of her salad and got to her feet.
Tom stood next to her. He'd lost his appetite. He wanted to
discuss this with Chakotay to get his opinion as Malista's counselor.
Pausing, Tom eyed Harry quizzically. "One thing I don't get, Harry.
What has your height got to do with anything?"
Harry felt himself flushing. "Oh, all during the lesson, Natwick
kept making a point that she was taller than me. And taking little
digs. He was careful not to say anything I could call him on,
though."
"Is she taller?" Tom hadn't thought about it.
"She's about two inches taller."
B'Elanna thought it was interesting he was aware of that. "So
she's taller? So what?"
Harry spelled it out for her. "He was implying that we were---
romantically involved. He thought it was funny, that's all. A tall
woman and a shorter man."
Paris grinned at his friend sympathetically. "I don't think it's
funny. What difference does height make?"
B'Elanna's eyes were sparkling with mischief. "Let me tell you
something from personal experience, Harry. I've found that tall
people willingly bend for shorter people---if you give them
sufficient motivation." She reached up and snagged Paris' collar and
pulled gently. He eagerly bent his head down for her kiss.
The crew members at the other tables hooted and cheered. Paris'
face and ears reddened at the attention, but he was thoroughly
enjoying himself. B'Elanna broke away from him and blew a kiss to the
spectators before dashing out of the mess hall as quickly as she'd
come in.
Paris grinned after her. "What a woman!"
Harry shook his head, grinning at his tall friend. "I think
you're both crazy." While happy for his friends, deep down he felt a
little envious. He stifled a sigh.
***********************
Shore leave requests had been granted as soon as they were in
orbit around Dynos Six. Half the Voyager crew was now wandering
through the capital city's market place. B'Elanna had left the chore
of repairing the sensor array to her trusty right hand, Lt. Joe
Carey. She needed this shore leave, even more than she needed to
supervise the repairs. The sensors weren't that critical while the
ship was in orbit.
Tom Paris, Harry Kim, B'Elanna Torres, and Malista Shadow were
exploring the community. Trust Tom Paris to promptly find the local
drinking and gambling establishment. He wasn't the first. At least
ten other Voyager crew members were sampling the local cuisine---and
the local stimulant beverage, which was not synthehol. The Delaney
twins had bought a case of it and were having it carried out to the
transport site. Torres commandeered an empty table.
There was a faintly disreputable air to the tavern, its
occupants busily playing games of chance involving heavy wagering and
loudly discussing their bets. They ignored the newcomers. Evidently
this city was a major trading post in the area so they were
accustomed to seeing new species of humanoids.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Harry asked, eyeing his
surroundings dubiously. There was a smoke-like substance in the air
that gave a sickly-sweet smell to the place that made him feel
slightly nauseated.
"Sure," Tom said, bringing four drinks and setting them on the
table.
Shadow lifted her glass, and sniffed gingerly at the contents.
"What is this stuff, Tom?"
He grinned carelessly at her. "It's blue." He took a sip,
shuddered, blinked, then stared at the glass. "Tastes sort of like---
creme de menthe." He crossed his eyes and shook his head. "Kind of
sweet. Strong, too." He stuck out his tongue and peered at it with
crossed eyes. His tongue was turning blue.
"Are you okay?" Torres asked, wishing she had a tricorder to
check the contents of the glasses.
Paris stopped kidding around and cleared his throat noisily.
"This stuff---is really strong," he wheezed. "Or maybe I've just been
drinking synthehol for too long."
The others left their glasses untouched. A sudden burst of noise
from the other side of the room caught Tom's attention. Several
locals seemed to be having an argument. It was getting louder and
gestures were being exchanged.
"Harry, have you ever been in a bar fight?" Tom asked
conversationally.
"No, why?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Because if we don't get out of here---quickly---you're going to
be in one," Torres replied.
"We haven't done anything," Harry said, getting to his feet
nonetheless. He trusted Tom's instinct for trouble. It seemed to
follow wherever he went.
"In a bar fight, that doesn't matter. Once it starts, everyone's
involved," Paris remarked, shepherding his friends and as many
Voyager crewmen as he could gather out the door. They didn't quite
make it.
They were nearly to the exit when the argument erupted into
violence. Kicks, punches, bottles, and furniture were thrown across
and around the room at random targets. Three of the Voyager crew were
knocked to the floor when four locals stumbled back into them as they
exchanged punches.
Paris couldn't abandon his crewmates. He was the senior officer
present. The captain would never forgive him. "Harry! Get Malista and
B'Elanna out of here!" He dived back into the fray.
Harry pushed Malista out the door and looked for B'Elanna. Too
late. She'd plunged into the thick of battle and latched onto the arm
of the man who was trying to bash Tom on the back of the head
with a bottle.
As Kim and Shadow went out the door, a drunk bumped into them in
his rush to escape the melee, almost knocking them both to the
ground. Sirens and whistles were sounding, drawing nearer. The local
authorities would be here any moment.
Harry was torn. He had to protect Malista, but he wanted to go
back for Tom and B'Elanna. He slapped at his commbadge to report the
situation. It wasn't there! He darted a glance at Malista. Hers was
gone as well. That drunk! He was a thief.
Malista was trembling with shock and fear. Was that blood on her
forehead? "Malista! What happened?"
Her hand went to her head and she studied the blood on her
fingers. "A bottle
, I think. What are we going to do, Harry?" She was
totally at a loss. She'd never been in a situation like this.
She was injured. He had to get her safely out of this mess. It
was up to Paris or Torres to signal for their own beam-out. "Come
on," he said, grabbing her hand and towing her behind him. "We're
getting out of town and staying out of sight till this blows over. I
don't like to hang around civil disturbances after what happened on
Akritiria."
She followed him obediently, her expression slightly dazed. They
passed a small house near the edge of town where the laundry was
being air-dried on wires. The temperature was dropping. The ship's
sensors might not be able to locate them for hours if they hadn't
been repaired. Kim snagged a blanket off the clothesline and took it
with them. He made for the foothills of the mountain range less than
a kilometer out of town.
They found a mountainside with an overhanging cliff that would
provide some shelter from the elements. He seated Malista against the
wall formed by the mountain. The sun was setting rapidly and the air
was growing chilly. He gathered some wood and leaves to start a
fire. Luckily there was enough sun left that he could use a lens to
start a spark. Now if he just had a lens. He didn't realize he'd
spoken aloud till his companion spoke.
"How about a match?" She held up a small book of matches.
"Where did you get that?" he asked curiously, taking it from her
hand.
"The bar---they had them on the tables. I was fiddling with
them. I guess I just forgot to put them down." She rubbed her head.
The bleeding had stopped. It was barely a trickle. The bottle must
have just grazed her head.
Harry got the fire going then inspected her forehead, taking
care not to take her by surprise. "I don't think it's serious. You
don't even have a bump. Yet."
"Serious enough to give me a headache. Ouch." She groaned.
"Without our commbadges or the sensors, Voyager can't locate us.
The sensors were going to take several hours to repair---oh, you know
that. You work in Maintenance. You wait here. I'm going to see if I
can find some more wood for the fire. We may be here a while. But
they'll be looking for us as soon as they can," Harry said, trying to
reassure her.
Her eyes were closed. She seemed to be asleep. Or pretending to
be asleep.
He left quietly to look for more wood, hoping Voyager could find
them soon. He knew she was comfortable with Tom, but he didn't know
how she would react to being stranded alone with him.
***********************
Harry Kim tugged at the collar of his uniform as he studied the
dark night sky. "Malista, it's going to get awfully cold here in the
next few hours. We only have one blanket." He stopped there to see
if she would make the inference and save him having to spell it out.
She didn't. Her green eyes stared at him dully, almost without
recognition.
"We need to conserve body heat if we want to avoid tissue
damage." There. That was as innocuously as he could phrase it.
She shook her head slowly from side to side. "No."
He wasn't absolutely sure she'd understood what he'd said. He
knelt next to her, carefully out of reach so she wouldn't feel he was
dangerous. "Malista, I know you don't like to be touched, but I'm
talking about sleeping under the same blanket for health reasons. To
stay warm. Nothing else. I promise. You know me. I'm Tom's friend.
I'm your friend. I wouldn't hurt you."
She rubbed her forehead with one hand. "My head hurts," She
moaned, like a tired child.
"I know. I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it. Why don't
you lie down first? I'll cover you with the blanket and build up the
fire as much as possible. Then I'll get under the blanket and we'll
go to sleep. Tomorrow, Voyager will locate us and beam us aboard and
we'll get you to Sickbay so the doctor can treat you." Harry spoke
soothingly. She did as he asked. He made her as comfortable as
possible, then stacked more wood near the fire.
He probably wouldn't get much sleep tonight. He'd be adding wood
to the fire every few hours. The indications were that the weather
might get down to freezing. At least they were partly sheltered by
the overhanging cliff. With the mountain on one side and the fire on
the other, they should be able to stay relatively warm. He stacked
the pieces of wood within easy reach, then raised the side of the
blanket.
Her eyes were closed and she didn't react as he slid down on the
ground next to her. He tucked the blanket around them both, carefully
refraining from touching her or drawing her attention to the
situation.
He turned on his side, facing away from her so they were back to
back. It wasn't as warm as it could have been, but it was better than
sitting in the night air without a blanket. The exhausting pace
they'd set that day was catching up with him. He pillowed his head on
his forearm and drew a deep breath. Before he could remember taking
another, he was sound asleep himself.
It might have been two hours later when Harry awoke. The fire
had burned down almost to embers, but the cold wasn't what awakened
him. It was the warmth.
Sometime as they slept, he had turned to face the same direction as
Malista and they had both moved closer to the center of the blanket.
They were sleeping spooned together, Harry's arm draped over and
clutching her waist, his hand cupping her breast, her bottom cradled
by his legs. It was unfortunate that his body didn't recognize the
situation or the person involved. All his body knew was that it was
reacting to stimuli in a natural manner.
Harry knew this was---not good. He lifted his hand and arm off
of her body and tried to ease his hips back away from Malista without
waking her. He knew he'd failed when she suddenly went rigid. She was
awake---and aware.
He froze, glad she wasn't screaming. "Malista, it's okay. I'm
sorry. Just ignore---" What a stupid thing to say! "I'm sorry.
Listen, I'll just turn over---"
Before he could finish what he was saying, she had pulled away
from him and surged to her feet. She ran to the other side of the
fire and stood there staring at him as if he'd grown fangs. Her
eyes were blank, as if she wasn't completely awake and aware of his
identity. She was beginning to shake as her body rapidly cooled
in the chilly night air. He got to his knees, holding the blanket in
front of him as an offering. "Malista, you're going to freeze.
Here, take the blanket."
It was all he could think to say. His apologies had only seemed
to make things worse. Between the cold air and her panic reaction,
his body rapidly lost interest, so his mind was clearing. He was
afraid she'd run away. Or worse, try to hurt him or herself.
"Why didn't the Academy give some practical lessons on dealing
with this kind of thing? Lesson 1001, How to Share a Bed Platonical
ly
with a Member of the Opposite Sex," he muttered, hardly aware he spoke
aloud till he saw her eyes round in amazement.
"What did you say?" She asked, her eyes clearly focused on him
now. She seemed to recognize him and the fear was quickly fading from
her expression and posture. She couldn't believe what she thought
she'd heard. It wasn't anything like what she'd expected him to say.
It threw her off balance and sharpened her concentration on his
words.
He gave her a rueful half smile, feeling the blood rushing to
his face. "I'm sorry, Malista. The Academy didn't cover this
situation in the wilderness survival course. Really, I wasn't going
to---I was asleep! Can a man be held accountable for what his body
does when he's asleep?" He tentatively smiled, trying a joke to ease
the tension. It was a lesson he'd learned from Tom Paris.
If he'd moved toward her, she probably would have run screaming
into the night. His quiet, apologetic manner, and that touch of humor
comforted her. He hadn't turned into a vicious stranger---he was
still Harry Kim, Tom Paris' best friend. Tom trusted him. She could
trust him too. He wouldn't hurt her.
"Maybe," she croaked hoarsely, still tired and feeling even more
exhausted as the adrenaline rush caused by fear wore off. She cleared
her throat and tried again, tentatively. "Maybe we should sleep
sitting up?" She came back around to the sheltered side of the fire.
Her teeth were chattering.
Harry stood and warily wrapped the blanket around her, making
sure she had a clear view of him so he wouldn't catch her by
surprise. "That's a good idea. Come sit with your back against the
mountain and I'll build the fire back up."
He was shivering himself by the time he'd refueled the fire with
sticks. He turned his head so he could see her with his peripheral
vision. She was watching him. When she caught his eye, she held up
the corner of the blanket in invitation.
He hesitated.
"Ensign Kim---Harry," she amended. "I'm sorry. I overreacted.
Please, come sit with me. You were right before. We do need to share-
--body heat."
He wished she hadn't said that. The mental image he got was not
conducive to a platonic cuddle under the blanket. Cautioning himself
to think of cold showers or something similar, he eased himself down
Trials 02 Harry's Trial Page 5