Shuttle Pod 1

Trip smiled as he made sure to include a container of lube in the supplies on the shuttlepod. He and Malcolm were going to be all alone in the pod for a couple of days aligning the targeting scanners. Trip certainly knew that he hoped to persuade the Brit into a bit of hot sex in any down time they had. Then he remembered that he ought to let Jonny know that if there were no answer to any hails, not to worry, it likely meant he and Mal were so involved with each other that they did not notice anything else. That the engineer would contact him if there were any problem at all.

***

Trip was kicking himself, here they were sensors and communications had just failed, no way to contact Jonny. If they weren't able to head to where Enterprise was in the asteroid field they were going to be shit out of luck. They needed help and Enterprise had no way of knowing it because they'd assume any lack of answer to a hail meant he and Mal were 'aligning each other's sensors' as he put it to the cap'n.

***

Malcolm felt a deep and endless horror. Enterprise destroyed, lying in pieces on the asteroid, and there was no way of knowing what had happened. His only home, his good friends, all gone. There had been no chance to say good bye, no chance to tell them how much they meant to him. No chance to make amends for any lack of communication on his part.

Charles had ordered him to take the one in a million chance of trying to reach Echo 3 in order to use it to try to hail a ship to be rescued. So he had done it, now though, he was intent on recording letters to his family back on earth and his friends, not wanting to fail again. Not wanting to pass up on what might be his only chance to say goodbye to them.

Charles had been upset that one of the letters was to his parents. Saying, "from what you told me they never did approve of you, never encouraged you, and you've implied that they hurt you with words if nothing else. Why in the world would you want to write to them?"

I told him; "regardless of their treatment of me while growing up, I still have hope that they can grow to respect me." I told him, concealing even then how harsh their treatment of me was. What good would it do to tell him? We were likely going to die soon, so there was going to be no way he could help me figure out why they had hurt me. I will never understand why either of them hit me, nor will I understand why father cut me for all my many failures. Though I was beginning to understand I had done nothing to deserve such treatment, I was still unable to blame them for it. There was still a small part of me that insisted that there had to have been something I did to deserve it. A small part that insisted that since parents normally put their children first, normally show them preference, that my parents would not do such a terrible thing unless I had deserved it. The longer I was with Charles, the quieter that voice was becoming, but it had not yet been silenced.

"Charles, I need to write them. If I don't now, I will regret it regardless of how long we live. I need to say goodbye, just in case we are unable to attain help." I told him, glad that I understood why he was so insistent on trying to repair the communication system, why he was trying to eke out a bit more time for us by extending how long life support would last. He was doing it because he fervently believed that we had hope, I also felt that he believed that even a second of more time with me would be worth it.

***

Now that we plugged the hole with the mashed potatoes from the emergency rations, potatoes that everyone on Enterprise had insisted could be used for valve sealant if there were ever a shortage of it. Apparently they were right. We were steadily getting drunk. Charles had turned off the heat for the few minutes longer it would give us, telling me each second would be worth it.

"How much time do we have left for life support?" Charles asks me, I don't like the look on his face. It would not be good if we've both become fatalistic.

I answer him and he turns away to think. Suddenly he's trying to close himself into the docking port.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" I yell, running to grab onto a leg. There's nothing that he could use there to extend the amount of time we would have.

"If we have 11 hours together, then you'll have twice as long without me. Maybe enough time to be rescued by Enterprise, I've got to give you a chance Malcolm!" He says.

"You daft git!" I yell, "get down from there, I am not going to allow you to sacrifice yourself for me." Luckily I had grabbed a phase pistol, "now get down here. If necessary I will shoot you to get you down. I have invested too much time in learning to understand you Charles to let you go now. I love you and I could not live with myself if you were to sacrifice yourself for me. I need you, please Charles come down." I know that I'm crying, but I don't care. 'Oh god, if Charles doesn't come down, if he somehow finds a way to kill himself just to buy me time, he'd better not or I'll, I'll…well I don't know what I'll do, but Charles will live to regret killing himself for me.'

I vaguely realize that my last thought really did not make sense, but considering I'm drunk and very worried I don't care. Then I see Charles come down, he walks over to take the phase pistol out of my hand. I lean up for a kiss and am greeted with warmth and tenderness.

"I'm sorry Mal, I think my worry for you caused me to act without thinking." He says, "let's go cuddle under the blankets. I'm sure Enterprise reaches us in time. Either way when they catch up to us, they're going to find us with you sitting in front of me, and wrapped in my arms."

***

Jon paced the length of sickbay back and forth. He had been informed that everyone on board had put in a request for information on how Trip and Malcolm were doing. Jon smiled slightly, remembering how T'Pol had found excuses to check in every 15 minutes, always asking about Lieutenant Reed first. Apparently his armoury officer had somehow found a way to sneak into their resident Vulcan's heart as well as everyone else's on board. He wondered what it was about Malcolm that had captured so many of his crew's admiration and love.

Was it how protective he was of his lover Trip and of the crew? Was it how hard he worked to make sure the crew would be protected? Was it the fact that Malcolm seemed to be the first to notice when anyone in the crew needed a word of encouragement? Or was it the fact that the most dangerous man on Enterprise, the one no one would ever want to face as an enemy, had a sense of vulnerability around him? Was it that the armoury officer was also 'soft as a marshmallow inside a solid steel case' as Travis put it?

Whatever it was he hoped that the men being treated for severe hypothermia now would recover. He knew that when they did they'd help each other deal with the after effects of the trauma they had gone through. He also knew both would have quite a few people wanting to help in any way they could at their doorstep.

Once they were out of sickbay, Jon was going to lend them Porthos for a few days. He had noticed how much Malcolm doted on the beagle and his armoury officer was going to need a bit of Porthos' special brand of comfort.

***

Malcolm was so glad to be warm again. He and Charles were attending counseling sessions with Phlox, both together and separately, trying to deal with the trauma we went through. We both have nightmares where we don't make it, I even have a few where I am unable to get Charles to come down from the hatch and am left to watch him die, all alone in the pod. Oh god, it's horrible.

Porthos nudges me with his nose, it's wet and cold, I smile a bit and pet him a bit more. He is such a well-behaved dog; I'm glad Captain Archer loaned him to me. Sure he said that he needed a dog sitter due to an unusually heavy workload right now, but I know it was that he wanted to provide me and Charles with another source of comfort to help us through this.

Malcolm smiled as he remembered how he had woken up in sickbay, the first to awake. The captain reassured him that Charles was okay and had listened to him as he told the older man how and why they thought the Enterprise had been destroyed. It had been a comfort to share his worry with the captain as well as his joy in finding out that his home was safe.

Then T'Pol had come down, he had smiled at her remembering an odd dream he had on the shuttle on T'Pol congratulating him for his heroics and calling him 'Stinky'. He had asked her if she had come down to see whether he had a mission report on what had happened. She had raised an eyebrow at him, coming the closest to frowning as he had ever seen her do.

"No, Malcolm, that can wait." She had said, "I was deeply concerned on how you were doing and hope that you will recover quickly. I am looking forward to the time you are able to join me again for our meditation sessions and our experiments in creating clay sculptures. It is good to see such a valuable crewmember as yourself recovering, as it is good to see the commander recovering. I needed to see for myself that you were safe, though I of course trusted Dr. Phlox' and Captain Archer's reassurances that you were. I believe I needed to see for myself due to the fact that I have become fond of you since we started our friendship."

Her words touched me so deeply that I had to swallow, so as not to embarrass her or myself with tears. "Thank you, T'Pol. I'm glad you came by to check for yourself." I told her. "I look forward to being well enough to join you for our get-togethers as well. I have become fond of you too and look forward to resuming our friendship."

She had nodded her understanding then noticing my fatigue had left sickbay.

It was a good memory one to savor as he waited for Charles to come home from his latest solo counseling session.

Malcolm fell asleep while waiting, Porthos cuddled up beside him. His dreams full of Charles and the warmth the southerner had brought into his life.

Rogue Planet

Jon sighed to himself in frustration after Trip followed Malcolm into their tent. 'Why was I so harsh with Malcolm? Snapping at him on how he should let me play captain for awhile and that posturing I did about my time in the Eagle Scouts? I should have known someone as driven as he was would have achieved quite a lot as an Eagle Scout. Am I being so harsh with him due to how envious I am of his and Trip's relationship?'

Jon blinked as he realized it, he was jealous. Not just of the fact his engineer and armoury officer had achieved such a loving relationship, but of the fact that it was Trip who was enjoying it with Malcolm. But instead of taking his jealousy out on Trip, he had taken it out on Malcolm. He was going to have to stop mooning over Malcolm before it caused a rift in his friendship with either man. The captain knew he had to find someone of his own to be with, but whom? Who on board ship could he turn to? Was there anyone else on board who was intelligent, interesting, and attractive? He had almost pictured someone on board, a man who he remembered having caught his eye a time or two, but was distracted by a sudden noise.

'Oh my, it's a woman. She looks familiar somehow, reminds me of someone I knew, no dreamed of when I was a child.'

***

Malcolm was glad they had finally confirmed Jon's sighting of the lifeform, that the rest of the landing party had seen her. He had wondered whether the captain had cracked slightly with all the little things that had been going on lately. It was good to know he hadn't. The armoury officer had begun to think of the older man as a friend instead of just a captain. That had not been affected by the way the older man had snapped at him earlier.

Once he worked on protecting the lifeforms here from the Dakala, he would be happy. It was nice to come to the defense of a people being hunted just because they were different. Then possibly he and Trip could go back to exploring each other as they had been before the captain had spotted the mysterious woman. Of course due to the way the Dakala were now hostile towards them they might have to continue their forays into well known territory on board ship. No matter when they did though, each time Malcolm had made love with Charles was precious and unique.

***

Malcolm persuaded Charles to join him in his quarters; it hadn't taken much persuasion as Charles was as desperate as he to continue what they had started doing earlier on the planet. The armoury officer removed his loves clothing quickly, needing to be with him desperately. Once they were both naked, the Brit took a second to appreciate Charles' appearance then backed him onto the bed.

They did not use the bed in Malcolm's quarters very often, but he made sure it had fresh sheets and lube in the bedside cupboard handy for the times that they did come here. Charles was on his back, looking up at him with desire blazing in his eyes. Those gloriously long legs parted for him, they were touching from hip to shoulder. Malcolm moved so that he was touching his love only with his hands.

Lord, Charles had looked so good down on the planet. Campfire lighting his features, moving steadily over that luscious body as if caressing his love. Malcolm lightly stroked Charles face, imitating the light of the fire earlier. Tracing each eyebrow, then grazing the blonde's parted lips, and then ghosting over cheek, chin, and ear.

Malcolm then softly trailed his fingers over the sun kissed neck of the engineer, up and down in increments. Barely brushing the shoulder blades then firmer touches along his chest, drawing close to the nipples then further away. Getting close to them, but never touching them. Charles was writhing underneath him. "Please Mal, please."

Malcolm lightly scratched and gently pulled at the chest hair, then flicked his fingertips quickly over the nipples, before dancing his fingers away towards the shoulders. Charles moving constantly under him, seeking further contact. Back and forth in teasing forays until finally focusing on the hard pointed nipples. Circling them, pinching them, tickling them, then just running the pad of the index finger over the tip.

Changing his plan of attack, he firmly caressed the southerner's abdomen. Gently thrusting one finger in and out the navel in imitation of making love. Then moving to touch Charles' hard, long, desperate erection. Charles started thrusting, pleading, "Please Mal, please!"

Using only his fingertips, he stroked up and down the length, tracing the veins, then circling the head. Scraping lightly just under the head with a fingernail, then focusing on the head spreading the fluid there along the shaft. Using his right hand to continue stroking up and down the penis he reached towards Charles' balls with the other, keeping himself in firm control as he continued barely touching his love. Then firmer strokes with his fingertips along both penis and balls, he heard Charles' keening cry as he came.

Malcolm licked the engineer clean with firm strokes of his tongue. Preparing his love for the second attack. Once Charles was stretched enough, Malcolm coated his erection and slowly penetrated that tight passage. Charles' legs wrapped around his waist, he kissed Charles and felt the older man's hands stroking him in time to the inner strokes he was giving his love. Pushing deeper and deeper, wanting to be fully home again. Finally he was as far as he could go, balls nestled against that lovely bum.

After resting for a moment he started to thrust inside Charles, stroking him from the inside. Doing all he could to show with each moment how much he cherished his love. Moving together in time, thrust and parry, move and countermove, better than any other type of swordplay he had ever engaged in. He wanted it to go on forever, tried to slow down, but the older man squeezed his inner muscles around him. Malcolm felt a blaze of need and started pounding hard and fast. He heard a triumphant shout, felt his mate come, and felt that glorious explosion overtaking him. The flash of heat from the explosion overtaking him as he cried out in completion, the last thing he remembered before being immersed in darkness.

When he came to, very little time must have passed for Charles was gasping underneath him still. His love would have moved him if too much time had passed. He slowly withdrew himself from the older man, hearing the soft, protesting whine, and soothed the southerner with kisses. He wrapped his engineer loosely in his arms, watching him until he fell asleep. Joining him in dreams soon after.

Acquisition

I wonder if I'll ever live down the fact that I am running around Enterprise in my Starfleet blues. I was trapped in decon for awhile and when I got out, finding everyone asleep and unable to wake up. God, I hope they'll all be okay. I managed to revive T'Pol and the Captain is awake, we're trying to figure out a way to overcome these big eared aliens. I don't think it'd be a good idea to allow them to take off with all they've been trying to take from the ship and sore on theirs. I wonder if they're pirates or whether the whole species goes about looking to take as many valuables as they can.

Regardless, they neglected to consider taking the most precious thing on board, Malcolm.

***

'Great, a species uses a Trojan horse to put us to sleep and take over the ship, and all I do to protect our ship is lay on the deck asleep. I was of no help at all getting the unknown species off the ship, but I was able to help return all our property to our ship.' Malcolm thought, "I wish I could have done more to help, but as Charles pointed out I managed to secure the computers so that the life support could not be taken off line. I vaguely remember doing so before losing consciousness, I'm glad I did. Who knows what the aliens' intentions were at the time? Though I wish I could have secured the armoury and all our weapons, at least I had made it impossible for the aliens to poison us.'

'At least the most precious thing to me is safe, Charles is well. The security tape of his running through the ship in his underwear has become my favorite thing to watch. A copy somehow slipped through my fingers to become a video to play at movie night. I wonder how that happened?' I grinned, knowing that I had leant a copy to Hoshi to enjoy and of course she decided to enjoy it with friends at movie night. As I told Charles it was good for morale.

***

Trip shook his head, blushing. From what he overheard of the crews' conversation everyone had seen the security tapes of his running around the ship in his skivvies. He was almost proud that Malcolm had taken the opportunity to show the tapes to everyone. He wondered whether he should worry at this latest sign of his Brit's usually hidden streak of mischief, for it was becoming more and more obvert and it could lead to a lot of embarrassment for the southerner. He also wondered for a moment why Jon had allowed the showing, the cap'n had known that the tapes were going to be shown. Then he realized it would have appealed to Jonny as a way of embarrassing him.

Oasis

'What is it about me that these alien women seem to want to get close to me.' Trip wondered. He didn't think he was doing anything to encourage Lianna, but she kept wanting to talk to him all the time. Something strange was going on with her father too, whether it was just over-protectiveness or something else the engineer wasn't sure. Though the man did look familiar somehow. All Trip wanted to do was go back to Enterprise with Malcolm and hold his love in his arms.

Unfortunately if he did not figure out how to get this scrap heap flying again soon it was going to be quite awhile before he could cuddle with Malcolm.

***

'Damn, damn, damn, Malcolm had to investigate some strange noises he heard. I know it was necessary, they could have been a threat to the crew. But now Malcolm is hurt, being held hostage and the only thing I can do is try to sweet talk a lady I have no interest in so we can get to Mal. Why do these things keep happening to his love?'

***

Malcolm lay in sickbay, for holographic projections, their weapons had been effective. He wondered whether he needed to participate in more mock battles with his tactical staff. Perhaps he needed a bit more practice so as to be able to jump out of the line of fire from time to time. Charles was practically glued to his side with worry, only allowing himself to be chased away by the captain, and then only to work in engineering before coming back. I shouldn't be in sickbay for very long this time, so perhaps he'll be able to get some rest soon. He really needs it after the stress he's been under the last couple of days. I wish I could go home with him now and spoil him a bit. Maybe give him a massage and then just hold him close while he sleeps. I worry that he's trying to take the world on his shoulders again.

Detained

Commander Tucker, personal log: "Well I've got to say that I never thought it possible to not be turned on by how Malcolm looks. I mean he is the most gorgeous person I have ever seen. So I thought that there was nothing that could make me see him as plain. I was wrong. Damn, he looks odd as a Suliban! If it weren't for the eyes, those glorious, changeable eyes, I don't think there'd be anything about him in his disguise as a Suliban to turn me on. If it were me trapped in that cell, I'm not even sure I would recognize him. Unless he spoke in his normal voice, then maybe I would recognize him."

"His little infiltration to rescue Jonny and Travis is going to be dangerous. There is so much that could go wrong with his effort to break them out of that prison. But the attempt has to be made; we can't leave our captain or our best pilot behind. I know there is no one better for the job either. Malcolm has the finest tactical mind I've ever seen, the way he can plan things out, taking into account as many possibilities as he can, it's amazing. I know if anyone can get our men out of there safely, he can."

***

Malcolm had managed to get the captain and Travis out, along with a few other prisoners. Setting those charges, taking on the guards, the adrenaline the fighting had caused to surge through his body—it had all been glorious. If it hadn't been for the tightness of the Suliban disguise and the fact that towards the end it had caused him to start to itch, it would have been the perfect jailbreak.

Charles was soothing some of the cortisone cream Phlox had given him over his back to try to help with getting rid of the itching. It was nice to feel his loves hands on him again. The southerner's strokes felt so much like petting; he was tempted to start purring.

Vox Sola

'All right a crystal growth of some kind, or perhaps a strange sort of plant has grabbed my lover, a couple of the crew, and my captain and I have been told that I'm not allowed to kill it? It's hurting them; their lifesigns are falling, they could die because of that creature. Phlox insists that since it's alive we must find some other way that force to deal with it. Well if it were a Venus flytrap that had snared one of his creatures, would he be as willing to try to use something other than force to deal with the plant?'

'We have no evidence that this thing has any intelligence at all, for all we know it is the equivalent of a Venus flytrap. So here I am, tinkering with the force field I've been working on, the one I helped in the first stages of development, in the hopes that I will be able to set it up to seal the cargo bay off. I don't want anyone else captured by whatever is in there. I need to be with my love, hold him, and I can not use the one method that might help.'

***

'Well apparently it was intelligent. Hoshi found a way to talk with it. It had been separated from itself or a larger version of itself and was lonely. That is why it took the crewmembers. It wanted to have the kind of connection with them as it does to the rest of itself. I suppose its part of a hive mind, if I understand how it was referring to itself correctly. It had connected the minds of the people ensnared, so Charles saw the water polo match the captain was thinking of. From the blush that spread all over Charles' face as he tried to tell me what he was thinking of while ensnared, I am afraid to ask the others what they might have seen of my love's thoughts.'

'From the way the captain and the others have been looking at me, they must have been interesting thoughts. Any time I catch their eyes they blush and look away. I think I might be better off not knowing what thoughts of Charles they might have shared were.

Desert Crossing

Lieutenant Reed, mission log: "The captain has insisted on showing Zobral respect for his hospitality, saying that it would be an insult to take along security. To me this is a serious risk to take, we know nothing about Zobral, this planet we are orbiting, or the game that will be played down on the surface which the Captain and Commander Tucker will be participating in. Captain Archer insists that it is likely a harmless game, yet knowing all the types of games humans have come up with over the millennia that reassurance does not sit well with me. Considering how the Roman's felt that the gladiatorial contests were entertaining, who knows what an alien society might think is an acceptable form of entertainment? Who knows what their games are like? Considering that Zobral is virtually a stranger, I believe the captain has taken an unacceptable risk by not including a security detachment."

***

I had dearly hoped my worries about Zobral were just paranoia on my part. Unfortunately here I am planning to go down in this shuttlepod to retrieve our people. Once Charles and the captain are safe we can try to retrieve the other shuttlepod. I know that my love dislikes the desert, partly due to his survival training having occurred in a desert. The worst thing is knowing that I have no experience waging desert warfare, so my attempt to get our captain and chief engineer back safely is going to be down and dirty.

***

I am sitting by the biobed, holding Charles' hand. I have done this before, sitting and waiting to see those eyes open. Desperately glad that he's alive, wishing he had not been hurt. He was severely dehydrated, not having drinking anything after taking part in that game. Though the captain isn't as severely dehydrated he's spending some time on a biobed as well. Captain Archer has already informed me that he will make sure Starfleet hears about this encounter, including the fact he ignored my advice to use caution and take down security with him. He has also recommended me for promotion; he says he will continue to do so whenever my actions warrant it until Starfleet listens and promotes me.

I know that there is a bit of reluctance on Starfleet's part to promote anyone in the middle of a mission. It may be that I only step up in rank once our five-year tour of duty is over. To me it does not make any sense not to recognize the crew on a long mission by handing out promotions, as long as they are earned, but at least I can keep mentioning my own staff and others in my reports. Giving my personal commendation and recommending to the captain that he formally recognize the person's efforts in his logs. The captain's commendations will likely be given quite a bit more weight than mine and may lead to a few people on the fast track to a command of their own.

I know Travis will make a fine captain one-day.

Two Days and Two Nights

I hope Mal and I win the lottery and that we are able to go down to Risa, it sounds like the perfect spot for a honeymoon, well a sort of honeymoon. Can you have a honeymoon if you're not married yet?

Oh well, I'll be treating it as a honeymoon. I'll take Malcolm to a romantic bar, wine and dine him, a little slow dancing, and then see if I can talk him into trying sex that could lead to exhibitionism. Just for the spice the slight risk will bring, I'm sure it won't actually turn into exhibitionism.

***

'I can't believe Malcolm and Trip.' Travis thought. Malcolm saying to Hoshi, "well, supposedly Risa is very cosmopolitan.'

Then Trip saying, 'Malcolm and I, uh, plan to broaden our cultural horizons.'

I laughed out loud at what Hoshi said though. 'Is that all you two think about.'

Hoshi pretended offense at their banter; I know she would shadow them and try to watch if she thought she could get away with it. She knows as well as I that Malcolm would notice her following, even if she did it from five miles away with sensors. Well, maybe not then, but he's damn good at his job and part of the job of someone in security is to know when they are being followed.

We all know what kind of broadening those two are planning. The closest they'll come to experiencing another culture is by eating the food or drinking the wine. Sure they plan on visiting a bar for a bit of dancing, but I'm pretty sure they'll spend most of their time in their room 'broadening' each other.

***

It was Malcolm who dragged me into the wine cellar; he learned from a waitress that it wasn't used very much. There was another with the more popular beverages elsewhere. So here we were, he's removing both of our clothes, tossing our pants, shirts, shoes and socks elsewhere. Removing our Starfleet issue blues and stacking them beside me. It looks as if he's actually going to want to be the one to penetrate me. Here. Far away from the safe haven of his room. I can barely wait.

Oh, he's laid me down on a canvas sheet, or something a lot like it. He's lying on top of me kissing me gently, reverently, worshipping me with his lips and his hands. Stroking me, it feels as if he's everywhere. So gentle, I feel him lick down my throat pausing me to give me a big old hickey right where it's going to show. It'll peak out of the top of my uniform collar and I can't bring myself to care. Not when he's finally gotten brave enough to seduce me away from his lair.

He's slowly advancing towards my nipples, damn; he's thorough in everything he does. All I can do is keep stroking him as I gasp his name over and over, I can't think of anything else. Malcolm is the only other thing that truly exists to me right now. We're alone in the universe, though I can still here the music from the club. He's sucking, licking and softly nibbling at my right nipple. Licking over it and tugging lightly at some of my chest hair. He's caressing the other nipple with his left hand, teasing it. The touch of his lips and his fingers searing me. God, his touch burns through me.

Now he's switched to sucking and licking my left nipple and caressing my abdomen with his hands. I can smell his aftershave, the soap he washed with this morning, and I can smell just plain Malcolm. It's the best odor I've ever come across.

Though my legs are spread so he can touch me everywhere, he moves them just a bit more, settling between them. He blows gently across the head of my penis and I jerk underneath him. "Oh god, I need you. Please."

Malcolm encases me in his mouth, taking all of me inside with such speed that I almost come from being fully surrounded by the moist heat of his mouth. He starts humming and sucking up and down my length as if determined to get me to explode as fast as possible. He concentrates on flicking his tongue over the head then swallowing my length again and at the feel of him playing with my balls, I come long and hard. He does what he can to draw the climax out, making it last just a bit longer and swallows all of the liquid. As I try to catch my breath, he licks me clean and starts stretching me with one finger and some lube.

Ever the Eagle Scout, he's come prepared, so to speak. He slowly inserts one finger into me, slick with lube, circling it inside me. I can barely wait to have him there and my heart is near to bursting with joy that he is finally able to make love with me somewhere other than his own quarters. Another finger joins the first, a little slowly by my taste, but I know he likes to be sure that I'm ready. I've been ready for this since the day we met. Soon he's up to three fingers, brushing that special place inside me, the one that makes my whole body start tingling.

I feel as he moves to push himself into me, slowly working his way pass the muscle, then giving me only a moment to adjust. He works his way steadily further inside me and finally is all the way home, all the way inside me, touching me everywhere. I'm facing him so I wrap my legs around his waist and join him. Rolling my hips and moving to the beat we're creating between this. This is my favorite dance of the night. We thrust against and with each other slowly, drawing it out, making every moment last. He changes the angle of his thrusts slightly, hitting my prostate with each stroke. His hand and mine on my dick, stroking it in time to the thrusts. I come again, hard and he joins me, both of our cries drowned by the noise of the music overhead.

***

Well apparently Malcolm can be distracted enough that he doesn't notice intruders entering a room. Our clothing has gone missing, with it our hotel key, at least we still have our underwear. It was a bit embarrassing walking back to our hotel room in just our blues; the desk clerk gave me an extra key while Malcolm stood by the elevator. "You are a lucky man to have such a nice mate." She tells me, "I hope no one disturbed your room, if the thieves have taken anything let me know and I shall do what I can to recompense you."

"Thank you," I said, looking at Malcolm who's blushing due to being only in his underwear in public. "I know that I am an extremely lucky man."

We go up to our room and call downstairs to let the clerk know everything that we had brought with us was now gone. She sent up some massage oil, a couple of robes, a pair of sandals each, and a credit chit that will help us buy food and drink. Unfortunately it won't work to buy clothing with as Risan's normally wear as little as possible and you need a special credit chit to buy it. The hotel can not provide one though, so it looks as if we'll be rejoining the shuttlepod in our underwear and the robes she gave us.

Well, I don't think we'll need clothing for what I'm planning to do the rest of our vacation.

Shockwave

'Oh dear god! The atmosphere below just ignited, it would only do that if it had been exposed to the equivalent of our engine exhaust. All our engine vents are closed. Since I knew of the risk, I triple checked to make sure they were closed and stayed closed. 'What the hell just happened? Did I miss something? Did I make a mistake? Am I responsible for thousands of deaths?' Malcolm cried out silently in his mind.

***

The captain had just chewed him out. He knew Captain Archer was worried, and it did indeed look as if he had been neglectful. Perhaps he had made a mistake and had caused thousands of deaths.

Malcolm was fighting tears of self-recrimination. He was going over and over the shuttle pod, desperate to find some explanation for what had happened. He was certain the sensors had confirmed that the vents were closed. But now it looked as if they had been open. Enterprise was being recalled to Earth due to the tragedy. So far the media had not picked up the news that her first flagship might be responsible for killing innocent people. In spite of that the whole crew knew why they were headed back in disgrace. Most were intent on trying to ascertain what had happened. So many had come up to him and let him know that they firmly believed that he would and did make sure that the vents were closed. That they were sure the real cause of the disaster would be found and that he would be proved to be blameless.

But what if he wasn't? What if a moment of neglect caused the vent to open without him being aware of it and then close right away? If a moment of neglect had led to this he did not know if he could ever forgive himself.

***

'God, Malcolm is eating himself alive with guilt.' Trip thought, "I know he would never neglect his duty. As soon as I heard that the captain had tore into him, making it sound as if he blamed Malcolm for what happened, as if he believed Malcolm had neglected his duty—well as soon as I heard I marched right up to Jonny in his ready room.

"What the hell are you thinking?" I yelled at him. "I know it looks bad, but both you and I know how anal Malcolm is with his job. How much of a perfectionist he is, he checks and rechecks everything. If he says the vent was closed, it's because he thought it was. Sure I haven't found a malfunction in the sensors that would tell anyone in the pod what was goin' on with the vents, but I'm still looking. Hell, even T'Pol is looking for what really happened, sayin' that she knows that Lieutenant Reed could not have been neglectful. So why in hell did you imply when you talked to Mal that you thought he was?"

Jonny looked up at me aghast. "God, I didn't mean to Trip. Everything is in chaos, if those people died due to something we did, the ultimate responsibility is mine. Starfleet is insisting we have to go back and be decommissioned. The Vulcans have pressured them due to this tragedy, I'm getting shot at from all sides, but that is no excuse for my having said something that would make Malcolm think it was his fault somehow. I know there has got to be something that shows he did nothing wrong."

Jonny rubbed one hand over his eyes as if hiding tears and I suddenly knew how hard he was taking the news that it had sounded like he was blaming Mal to both Mal and others on the crew. I could tell that it devastated him to know that he hurt Malcolm somehow. I was going to have to find him someone of his own, fix him up should we find a way out of this mess. He needed someone to love and be loved by.

"I'll go now and let him know he has my confidence and apologize for the way I tore into him." Jonny said, "I can't leave him thinking that I blame him. It'd tear his heart into pieces if I did. Thank you for the wake up call Trip."

"Your welcome."

***

Captain Archer apologized for implying he thought it was my fault, then told me that I have his every confidence. But there is still the possibility that I am the one at fault. We are doing everything we can to find out exactly what happened.

"Lieutenant Reed to the situation room please." I hear T'Pol's voice over the intercom.

I go to the nearest com and open a channel. "Acknowledged, on my way." I reply, I wonder what's going on?

***

'Oh great,' I think, 'now the captain has disappeared. Supposedly with Daniels who said he was a time traveler. However I thought for some reason that Daniels was dead. We have Suliban cell ships chasing after us and have been told that a Vulcan escort is on its way to make sure we head home.'

'Do they really expect us to make a break for it? To run and hide instead of facing whatever repercussions there might be for what we've been accused of doing?'

***

Hoshi crawled through the ship; she hated being inside these ducts. It was so hard to go through them with her claustrophobia, but she needed to get something to Malcolm. Something that would help them retake the ship. Either that or she had to do something once she got to Malcolm's quarters that would help them retake the ship. She wasn't sure at the moment, being able to think of nothing beyond getting through these tiny ducts to get to Malcolm's.

She made sure the hallway was clear and let herself drop to the floor.

'Damn, I lost my shirt.' Hoshi thought, 'What is Malcolm going to think when I get to his door?' Hoshi blushed and swore under her breath. Malcolm would never tire of teasing her about showing up at his place half-naked. 'It's not as if Malcolm would ever be interested in me, darn it, but still, he's never going to be able to resist teasing me about this once we are able to clear our names with Starfleet. Imagine thinking someone as honorable and decent as Malcolm being the cause, Starfleet command was full of idiots!'

Hoshi arrived at Malcolm's door, and saw the armoury officer's expression as he opened it. He did a classic double take and Hoshi saw the look of mischief and surprise overtaking his face. "Not. One. Word. Now go get me a shirt to put on and don't you dare take a peak at me."

"What if I promise to let you take a peak at Charles and I the next time we make love?" Malcolm said, in what he meant to be a teasing manner.

"If I can have that as a written guarantee, I'll let you stare at me." I tease back; he blushes, throws me a shirt and then goes into the bathroom, the door closing behind him.

'Rats, it would have been nice if he agreed to the exchange.' I thought as I put on his shirt. 'Oh it smells nice, it must be one that he's worn. I wonder if he'll notice if I keep it.' I remember whom I'm thinking of and sigh. Knowing that I will have to return the shirt.

***

'Damn it hurts.' Malcolm thought. 'We have the ship back, we have proven that we were not at fault for the tragedy, and T'Pol gave a rousing speech to Ambassador Soval and company on how we should be allowed to continue our mission of exploration. I had to promise Dr. Phlox that I would return to sickbay as soon as possible to have further treatment to the wounds caused by the Suliban trying to beat information out of me. But the pain is worth it to be here when Starfleet is presented with the evidence proving that we were not the cause of the tragedy. The Suliban are through some very elegant sabotage. I almost admire their ingenuity in causing us so much grief. Their heartlessness however, will prevent me from ever admiring them.'

***

I hover around Malcolm as Jonny finishes reporting to Starfleet and gets the go ahead to keep exploring. As soon as the transmission ended I turned to him.

"You are going to sickbay now. You will receive as much treatment as Phlox thinks you need. Then you are coming home with me." I say, giving him no leeway.

"Yes dear." He says as meekly as all get out, eyes twinkling with relief and mischief. It's going to take him awhile to truly take in the information that proves we are innocent. It's going to be awhile before he believes that there was nothing he could have done to prevent the tragedy.

It's going to take awhile for Jonny to realize that he's not to blame either. I'll do all I can to help both of them through this. For now, I'm taking my love to sickbay to be healed. Knowing that it will be a long time before I can forgive myself for having to order him to distract the Suliban. Especially since I knew he would be mistreated. We have a lot of healing to do; I'm glad we will be able to do it within each other's arms.