Red Means Dead

Ensign What's-his-name

Climbing down from the tree that I had nested in for nearly an hour placing sensors and watching one of the six-winged avian exercise its wings, I'm slightly startled to find the young ensign standing not that far off, watching me. A blush colors his fair cheeks when we make eye contact and I turn from him, brushing my hands on my slacks and rolling my eyes to myself. I still haven't figured out his name.

I hear him walk up behind me and, reluctantly, I turn to greet him.

"Hello again. You're a really great climber."

I arch my eyebrows, expecting there to be more but apparently that was the extent of his pick-up line.

"Can I help you, ensign?"

"I was thinking maybe we could try climbing when they give us a bit of shoreleave. I'd love to get you in a harness and see those moves in action." He realizes how that sounds a moment after I do and though his ears look like they could set kindling on fire, he doesn't amend what he said.

The silence grows heavy between us as I decide how gentle or harsh to be in my rebuff. It would be one thing if we were back on earth and my chances of seeing him were less but being on Enterprise, I risk running into him all of the time. Still, close proximity did not excuse unwanted advances. Making my decision, I stall, reminding myself I'm not even that sure of his name and start reevaluating my decision again.

"Lieutenant, may I have a word?"

We both look at McCoy who is standing near the shuttlepod, distractedly looking at a tricorder.

Shrugging apologetically, I say goodbye to the crewman and hustle over to McCoy, curious as to the reason he stepped in this time.

"What? Are you going to tell me you took a scan and you don't approve of his hormone levels around me?"

Confused, he looks up from the device and studies me, plucks a leaf from my hair and presents it like a gift before realizing what I said and quipping, "I don't need a medical degree to see what you do to most men's hormones."

I blush, in spite of myself.

"I actually wanted to know what you think of these readings that are coming in on the animals."

"Hunh? Oh. Erm..." I lean into him and scan the data, sharing in his confusion. I advance the information quickly, cycling through it again and still not coming to a conclusion.

It appears that the atmosphere is changing in consistency and the results are having a calming effect on the animals. Searching for confirmation, I find one of my new favorite birds and see that, in fact, it has settled on one of the few shelves in the rock formation and almost appears to be sleeping, a vast difference from its frenetic state I have been observing.

"Ideas?"

Shaking my head, I chew on the corner of my bottom lip and ponder what may be happening, anxious to figure it out first so that I could be the one to save the day.

I sigh. I'm not at all certain what the data is revealing but I offer what little I have strung together in my mind. "It is possible this is a natural occurrence, perhaps similar to how cows lie down when a storm is approaching or how coral off the coast of Australia is affected by the moon."

"That's an interesting leap. But scans of the planet's atmosphere didn't show this phenomenon."

Scrolling to the bottom of the readout, I point to the last line of information and tap it a few times as I think.

"What?"

"I...I'm not sure."

"C'mon, Peaches. You wouldn't be on the Enterprise if you weren't the best and the brightest."