Caught in the Act (Part 1)

Month 10 Day 25

1933 Hours

Smitty

 “Deck 4,” Smitty growled as he and MacGregor entered the lift. The computer obligingly sent the lift upwards. Don’t know what’s wrong with Drake tonight. First, he shows up at my place demanding that I accompany him. Apparently, he feels he has to see Colleen - tonight - so that he can give her a present. If it’s as innocent as he claims, why didn’t he just give it to her in the messhall, like Takor did? Why get me involved at all? I already had my boots off and was just settling in to finish that eggnog. He wriggled his toes as they exited the lift on her floor, wondering if he should have paused to put his boots back on. But in the end, seeing that Drake wasn’t going to stop arguing until he got his way, he had suddenly just wanted the thing done and hadn’t given a thought to putting on his boots. Now they neared the door of Quarters 42, and Smitty felt a great need of the eggnog he’d left on his desk.

As Drake rang the doorbell, Smitty stood off to one side, intending to be seen as little as possible. Not at all, he hoped. The door opened, letting out a variety of voices and music. “Uh oh,” Drake muttered.

“Hi, Doc!” greeted a familiar male voice that Smitty couldn’t place in these circumstances. “Didn’t know you were invited!” Smitty stepped forward so he could be seen. “Woops.” Capac’s face didn’t know whether to go red or white. The uncertainty lead to a blotched effect.

I confine her to her quarters, and she has a party! Enough! He pushed his way across the crowded room, searching for her. As people realized who he was, they slunk away, but he paid no attention; he didn’t care about them. There she is! In the midst of things, of course. Enticing 2 men into the bedroom, from the looks of it! One hand on Ferguson’s chest, but she’s concentrating on seducing another man. Isn’t 1 enough? Who’s she working on? Then he heard the man speak. “You don’t want me, Mac. Get someone else.” Bugalu! Of course!

“Please, Bugsy!” She’s practically begging. “Papa...” She leaned closer to her lover. How can he resist? He can’t, of course. And he’s got no reason to. The negro’s arms slipped around her, and their lips met. What I’d give to be-

“Mr Smythe?”

Smitty jerked his gaze away, found himself looking at Harris. “What?” he growled. He was just as aware of the lovers, even if he no longer saw them, as he had been before Harris had interrupted his thoughts.

Harris was pale, and frightened. “This is my party, Mr Smythe. Mac didn’t know anything about it until everybody started showing up. And she-”

“Did she bother to tell you she’d been confined to her quarters?” he demanded.

“Well... everybody knows that,” Harris admitted. “I mean, now, but when I thought about having this party-”

“Smitty,” Drake said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He roughly shrugged the doctor’s hand away. “Make a choice, Harris,” he told her. “Either you move your party elsewhere, or I’ll have MacDowell confined to the brig!”

“Yes, sir,” Harris agreed unhappily. People quietly began leaving, taking the snacks with them. Someone captured the wandering mistletoe unit and filed out with the rest. And through it all, completely unaware of any of it, the lovers kissed. Smitty walked over to wait for them to finish, his mood black.

“More,” Bugalu breathed as their lips finally parted.

“Yes,” she agreed.

“Not tonight!” Smitty barked. They sprang apart to stare at him in shock. “What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded. As if I don’t know!

“Well, Della was-“ Colleen began, but her voice faded away as she glanced around and saw the room was empty. Her face blanched. “There was mistletoe over me, and so we... we kissed.”

Smitty let his eyes wander around the room. “There’s no mistletoe in this room.”

“No, sir,” she agreed meekly.

Having won that point, he turned his attention to the helmsman. “Did you know MacDowell had been confined to her quarters?” Of course he knew it! He was in the messhall when I did it.

“Yes, sir, but-“

“But,” he interrupted, “you chose to ignore that, in order to fraternize in a most intimate fashion!”

“Fraternize?” the redhead squeaked.

“He’s implying sex,” Bugalu said bluntly. The woman turned bright red, and then became so white, it seemed she must faint.

“Smitty, they were just kissing,” Drake broke in. “They aren’t in bed; they’re fully dressed. And you know perfectly well there was a party going on here, with mistletoe. Furthermore, it wasn’t Mac’s party.”

He scowled at MacGregor’s interference and turned to face him. “What makes you so sure?”

“Mac would have invited me,” Drake returned. “Besides, she’d admit it. Mac might try to dodge trouble, but she doesn’t lie to do it.”

Shows how much he knows!

“Mr Smythe, the first thing she said when I showed up was that I shouldn’t be here because she’d been confined to her quarters,” Bugalu stated.

“And you chose to ignore that,” Smitty growled.

“He was here to see Della,” Colleen insisted.

Of all the daft defenses... “He wasn’t kissing Harris, he was kissing you!”

She turned red again, only not as deep a red as before. “I asked him to.”

No doubt. And if I hadn’t shown up, they would have been in bed by now! “Colleen, this is a blatant disregard of orders. The same disregard for orders that got you confined in the first place! I have half a mind to throw you in the brig!”