Once the doors were sealed the Brigadier turned round to face the room. The Doctor was slipping round the console, flicking switches and programming co-ordinates, whilst Dafydd watched him with awe, with Lukas cradled gently in his lap. Riker and Worf hovered over Doctor Crusher as she ran a tricorder over the pale form of their captain. And Benton had silently sidled over to his superior officer and was standing at ease, with a smile of relief on his face.
"Good to see the excursion was a success, sir," Benton opened.
"It could have gone better, but at least there have not been any fatalities," the Brigadier commented.
"Considering we were going in with one of the Doctor's plans, the lack of deaths and only a few injuries is a surprise," Benton cheekily pointed out.
The Brigadier didn't reply to that, just simply grunted in acknowledgement as he watched the goings on in the console room and casually crossed his arms over a bloody patch on the side of his uniform. "Doctor, any chance of getting this infernal contraption of yours to move?"
"I resent the implication that you do not trust the old girl. She is moving, I have just moved us out of time so we can treat the Captain without the situation on the planet deteriorating further," the Doctor announced. "Come on, we should see what is of use in the medical ward."
Dafydd tried to aid his countryman but Benton intervened and easily lifted Lukas up and carried him further into the TARDIS. It seemed that their eventual destination was filled with equipment that made that of the Enterprise medical facilities look basic. Amongst the machinery, there were three beds laid out ready for an occupant each, with obligatory visitor chairs and a bowl of grapes on the beside tables.
"Why are there three beds? Only the Captain and Lukas here are injured," Benton asked.
"The TARDIS knows more than we do," the Doctor replied.
Benton was about to ask him to be more specific but decided to wait as the two medical personnel started to bustle in preparation of using a room beyond the ward as a surgery for Captain Picard and Lukas. After a few minutes Worf realised that there was little he could help with, so he went back to find Commander Riker and wait in some kind of dining room until there was news. Benton pulled out one of the chairs and sat down in case he was needed, as although the Doctor was strong another hand may be needed to help move the patients.
Almost two hours later Benton jerked awake to the sound of comradely chatter as the Doctor and Doctor Crusher settled Lukas into one of the beds.
"Need any help?" Benton said belatedly, and Doctor Crusher smiled at him.
"Keep an eye on Lukas, make sure he stays quiet when he wakes up. We may be a while trying to fix the problem with the Captain's heart so if Lukas wakes in the meantime we need someone to keep him calm." She suggested.
"I believe my training covers that, ma'am," Benton smiled in return and slid his chair gently over to Lukas' bed.
"I think I have something knocking around in here that would we useful in locating the problem before we even have to start an internal search. I haven't used it in a century but it does the basics; 3D imaging, heat monitoring, diagnostic advice… It may even have an programmable nanoprobes to aid in minimising surgery damage," the Doctor murmured continually as they wheeled the captain down to the end room.
"So this is where you've been hiding," the sharp voice jolted Benton out of his trail of thought.
"Sorry sir, I thought I could perhaps be of use to the two Doctors," Benton said sheepishly as he shot to his feet.
"No need to apologise, there is little to do anywhere else in this place," the Brigadier handed a mug of tea to his sergeant.
"How are the others? Dafydd certainly seemed to be made of sterner stuff than we first thought," Benton asked.
"I doubt that he would be joining any organisation like UNIT any time soon, but he certainly has the courage needed to stand up for what is right. I hope he finds a nice life with these Federation lot," the Brigadier said thoughtfully as he sat down on the third bed.
"Are you alright, sir?" Benton ventured, uncertainly. "You seem rather tired and spaced-out."
"Bit of a close call on the way through those passages, their insane War Chief wasn't too happy," the Brigadier got up again and started searching the room for something.
"What do you mean? That's how Lukas got shot wasn't it?" Benton asked.
The Brigadier located a medical kit and was busy rummaging through it and did not reply.
"Sir?" Benton got up and moved over to the Brigadier. "Alistair?"
"Hmm?" the fact that the Brigadier didn't snap his head off for using his Christian name made Benton extremely nervous.
The Sergeant casually walked around the room under the pretence of examining the walls and stretching his legs. In actuality he was trying to find a better location to see what the Brigadier was doing. However his subtle dance was pointless as he had to dash forward to catch his commanding officer as he collapsed.
"Sir, what's wrong? Brigadier?" Benton scooped up the man and placed him on the unoccupied bed.
He noticed the patch of blood on the Brigadier's jacket and peeled it back, revealing the deep cut on the left side of his chest. It was deep and ran from just under his armpit down four inches. But what worried Benton the most was that there was little blood and the edge of the broken skin was turning blue.
"Well that's not good," Benton muttered.
"But who do I get? The Doc and Doctor Crusher are in surgery, I can't disturb them…" Benton checked the Brigadier was still breathing with a steady enough pulse before he dashed from the room.
Worf couldn't get his head around the fact they were sitting in a room waiting around whilst they could be back on the Enterprise confronting the enemy. He sat at a small table poking a cucumber sandwich suspiciously, much to the amusement of Riker who was hiding his smile in a china cup of tea. Dafydd had piled his plate up with a variety of cakes and was slowly trying all of them whilst smothering a chuckle of amusement.
"It's just cucumber, it won't kill you," Riker chuckled.
"There is no taste, you might as well eat air," Worf growled.
"Most of our food is bland so it's cheaper to produce, quicker to eat and less of a distraction from more important things," Dafydd said around a mouthful of chocolate cake.
"Troi would approve of your new taste in food," Riker nodded to the cake.
Before the conversation could evolve, their peace was interrupted as Benton cannoned through the door.
"Dafydd, I need you in the hospital now, the Brigadier's collapsed and both the Doctors are still in surgery," Benton rattled out.
For a second nothing happened, then the three of them shot up and followed the Sergeant. Riker and Worf weren't really sure why they were accompanying the two, but they did so anyway in the vain hope of being useful. The Brigadier hadn't moved in the few minutes Benton had not been present, and Lukas was still resting easily despite the bursts of activity in the room.
Benton and Dafydd immediately started to examine the Brigadier's wound and discuss theories, which quickly narrowed down to poison from the blade. Unfortunately it seemed that the Brigadier had not kept it, so a quickly obtained analysis would not be possible. Riker and Worf were put to good use trying to find a lab nearby whilst Dafydd took blood samples from the wound.
"There's a lab three doors down on the right," Worf reported as he stuck his head round the door.
"Great, thank you. I'm going to hook him up to an IV bag and give him some morphine in case there is any pain. I'm pretty sure this is a fancy heart monitor, so I'll wire him up to that too so we can keep a close eye on his vitals. Can you stay here to monitor him, and keep an eye on Lukas?" Dafydd asked before he left.
"No problem," Benton nodded and once again perched on a chair.
He had spent many hours manning the radio back at UNIT, he had spent years on guard duty and ages waiting for the kettle to boil to make hot drinks for various visitors and higher ranking members of UNIT. But having to wait next to his commanding officer lay possibly dying next to him and there was nothing he could do was torture. Often he had seen the Doctor pacing and wondered how it was helpful, and even now when he had had the opportunity to try it for himself, he still could not figure out the benefits of such a habit.
After what seemed like an age, but was probably only an hour, the door at the far end of the ward opened and the two Doctors emerged. Both were wearing triumphant grins and pushed the gurney with the still form of the Captain.
"Operation was a success, there were a few fused wires that were causing it to short circuit and cause an irregular beat, but that is fixed. Even managed to fix a few broken ribs whilst we were in there," the Doctor rambled as they sorted Picard out on his bed. "Don't congratulate us then."
Beverly put a hand on his arm as warning and nodded towards Benton, who had not moved from his vigil. For the first time the Doctor looked up and started as he noticed the third bed also had an occupant. In no time at all he had examined the wound and come to the same conclusion as the previous two.
"Natural poison, some kind of plant or fungus toxin. Looks like it has increased the platelets efficiency and is congealing the blood whilst it is still in the veins, reducing oxygen circulation to the muscles and reducing heart rate. We need to –" the Doctor started.
"Dafydd has taken a sample and is analysing it for any known antidote, and gave the Brigadier fluids and morphine in case," Benton cut off the Doctor to save the patronising lecture.
The Doctor blinked, "Well, that's good, he is quite smart for a human."
"Stop throwing the insults and go and help him," Benton's sudden shout of anger.
For once the Doctor was silent as he nodded his agreement and headed out of the room.
"Sorry ma'am, I shouldn't have shouted. But he could have wasted all day insulting humans and not have actually gotten anywhere," Benton sighed and visibly calmed himself.
"It's understandable, and I think it was the best response to get him to move. I don't think he has seen you angry before, he seemed pretty shocked," Beverly smiled and walked over to check on Lukas.
"I don't think they have ever seen me angry, I'm usually an optimist and never let my emotions get the better of me," Benton rubbed the back of his neck and looked rueful.
"You're worried, and rightly so. I think you can give yourself a break," Doctor Crusher smiled. "Now I'm finished I can stay here to keep an eye on things, and I think you could do with a break. Go get a drink and stretch your legs, and if you can you should sleep."
Benton started to protest, but the look that the redheaded doctor was giving him made him change his mind quickly. Muttering a thanks he got up, and slowly walked out of the room.
Author's Note – Thanks again for holding with me and reading on, I promise I have now got a direction (at least for the next few chapters) so these ramblings do have direction!