16The Trouble with Whiskey
Summary: It's been a few weeks since the events in Singularity. Enterprise's crew has been working double shifts on recalibrating weapons and systems upgrades and tensions have been running high. Trip and Malcolm decide to let off steam with a 'friendly' sparring match. A small snapshot of life on board the NX-01 exploring the friendship between Trip and Malcolm.
A/N: Follows on from 'Clearances' but it isn't necessary to have read that. There is some minor violence/cursing in this story but I've tried to keep it commensurate with what was used in the TV show. This will be three chapters in total, the first being quite a short teaser introductory chapter. Thanks to Will for the beta. Also thank you to Annastesia LaFayette for the nudge (it was a while back I know) and SilverSentinel21 who pointed me in the direction of Irish Whiskey (I definitely had fun with the research). Thanks again.
Disclaimer: Star Trek: Enterprise belongs to CBS and Paramount. No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 1 – Digestive Discomfort
Present time 2030 hours
They liked to share a stroll in the evenings. This evening, however, Archer was solo. His faithful and trusted companion was feeling a little under the weather.
"Oh I don't think it's serious, Captain. Just a little digestive discomfort. He should be okay with rest and plenty of water. Tomorrow you might like to try him on a little plain rice and chicken."
"You hear that, buddy. Plain rice and chicken." Doleful eyes looked up at him.
"You might also want to tell Chef to remind the galley staff not to leave rubber gloves lying around."
"Will he be okay, Doctor?"
"It'll work its way through, eventually. Rest assured of that, Captain."
Archer had yet to have that pleasure but Phlox had said if it hadn't happened after twenty four hours to bring Porthos back and he'd check him again.
He liked to take Porthos out and about the ship for some exercise on a daily basis but when Archer had opened his door and called out to him earlier that day, Porthos had just lain in his bed with absolutely no intention of moving. It was then that Archer had spied the rubber glove minus three of its fingers. He'd only found the remains of two in Porthos's bed.
And so he found himself that evening doing his rounds strolling C deck at twenty thirty hours minus his faithful beagle. In fact he was also missing two of his senior officers. Commander Tucker had been preoccupied for some time overseeing the installation of new upgrades to the navigation and grav plate systems and Lieutenant Reed had been leading the armoury on a complete recalibration of all weapons systems. They'd been working their teams hard the past two weeks and although the work on the weapons, navigation and grav systems was mostly complete, there were still a few snagging issues to take care of. One of which involved the grav systems encompassing the Captain's quarters.
Archer had been having a few problems recently and although they were only intermittent they didn't seem to have resolved themselves following all the upgrades Trip and his team had done. Normally it wouldn't have been a major issue, irritating certainly, but nothing he couldn't handle. These, however, were not normal times and malfunctioning grav systems were definitely not pretty when you had a beagle with digestive discomfort. So he'd been meaning to drop in on Trip to see if he would take a quick look. Unfortunately he hadn't yet come across him on his travels. Of course there were others in the engineering team who were quite capable of fixing the issue but he wanted Trip. Trip would have the problem sorted quickly.
As Archer continued his walk along the corridors of C deck he found his luck had turned as he caught a glimpse of his Chief Engineer and Tactical Officer both in joggers and t-shirts coming out of the gym. As he quickened his pace to try and catch them he overheard the words "Irish Whiskey" in a southern twang.
"Trip."
Damn. He could have sworn Trip had seen him even if he hadn't heard him. Archer broke into a half fast walk half jog. Now he knew something was up. Trip had just surreptitiously muttered something to his fellow officer and they had both kept on walking obviously pretending not to have seen or heard him. Now that wouldn't do.
"Not so fast, you two!"
Both men stopped dead in their tracks but neither turned round as Archer slowed his pace and finally caught up with the pair. He decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. "Trip. I need you to check the grav systems on E Deck. It's only intermittent but I'm having problems in my quarters, again. Would you take a look?"
Trip half turned, shielding the right side of his face from Archer's view. "Sure thing. I'll put it on my list for the morning, Cap'n."
"Any chance you can look at it now? I know you're off duty, you've had a long day and you're pretty beat…" Malcolm shifted awkwardly at his words and Archer didn't have to wait long to realise why. As Trip turned fully to face him Archer spied the initial markings of an ugly bruise beginning to form under the Commander's right eye, "…in more ways than one. What the hell happened to you?"
TBC
