Echo

Chapter 9: Murder Eyes

Author's Notes: Hello lovelies! Finals are over for this semester for me, so I'll have more time to -obsess over Karl Urban- write!

Enjoy this chapter. Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated :)

- -
Leonard

After a long day of discreetly trudging through the overgrowth of the newly discovered planet in a disguise, Leonard was relieved to be back in the cool, sleek environment of the shuttle that bore him and the rest of the explorers back to the ship.

It was, as it were, a strangely natural experience to him now that he had spent a few years living chiefly upon the Enterprise. Today's expedition had been nice and uneventful, and they had caught quite a few glimpses of the planet's indigenous inhabitants to find that they were peaceful creatures. They'd had nasty encounters with other extraterrestrial beings prior to this visit, so it was nice, on occasion, to touch down on a planet that wasn't hostile.

McCoy had hated this walkabout far less than he had others, and making an exploratory stop reinstated a sense of normalcy in their routine. They had mostly just warped through space without taking on missions for the past few weeks, only pausing at planets they knew. The only difference between this pause and the others prior to the mutiny was that you had come along.

He balanced his oxygenated helmet upon his knee and glanced at you from across the ship to observe that you were turning a leaf the width of a tennis ball over in your fingers. It was bright blue, and glowed when you cupped your hands around it. To Leonard, Chekov and Kirk, this was nothing unusual as they had seen far stranger things upon foreign planets, but to you it was probably an exotic delight.

When you had approached the Captain at the entrance to the shuttle, clutching the small piece of nature, your demeanor was eager when you asked him if you could keep it. The toxicity scan had proved that it was not poisonous, so even though it would probably wither quite fast in the atmosphere of the Enterprise, Kirk had chosen to humor you.

Naturally Alpha was there too, but he had been far less excited and awestruck about the visit to the surface, seeming to hover over Kirk protectively for fear that some alien would leap out of the bushes and try to strangle him.

Of course there was always the chance of that, but your colleague was strangely paranoid. Leonard got the inkling for the first time that the other agent was not fond of the idea of exploring space.

For the fifth time, you gently circled your palms about the leaf, making a little cup with your hands, and peered into them to observe the effect.

McCoy had not forgotten the look on your face when that man came after him on the ship a week prior. It was a hardened, frightening killer's glare of concentrated intensity that he hoped he would never see again. In his mind, he had already named it the "murder eyes". He hadn't observed it since, but it was a strange thing to recall now that he had seen what you looked like when you were happy.

Happy. It was an odd emotion to apply to you, because in your entire period of employment on the Enterprise, Leonard couldn't say he had ever seen you wear a genuine smile. Then again, you hated him, so perhaps you just didn't do it in his presence. Today during the walk, while the lot of you prowled around in the forest in Chekov's wake, the doctor had caught you gazing around with a sense of wonder, fascinated by every living thing you saw on more than one occasion.

It was natural for people to feel that way even if they weren't interested in space exploration, but Leonard got the feeling that it was more than that for you.

"Zat leaf won't last," Chekov informed you, grimacing slightly.

You looked up at him, raising your eyebrows and shrugged before replying, "I know, but I figured I'd keep it just in case."