Part 8 Pain
Tetia picked up the weapon T'pol had held and tucked it into her waistband. She then retrieved her own weapon, keeping it in her hand but pointing it at the ground, so that it was not threatening to the two people whom she needed to trust her. She turned to look at T'pol and the Captain. "Is there any way I can help?" She asked concerned at the weight that Archer was resting on T'pol's shoulder.
"We will be fine," T'pol replied, "But we need to move as quickly as possible. I suggest that you lead the way."
Tetia nodded and headed for a door at the back of the room, turning before she reached it to ensure that Archer and T'pol were following. True to her word T'pol was able to support the Captain as they moved forward.
About two hundred yards from where they emerged into the moonlit night, Tetia signalled for them to stop. She lifted a grid and indicated that they needed to go down. T'pol manoeuvred herself and the Captain closer, to peer at what appeared to be a sewer access point.
"As I said it will be much safer to travel underground," Tetia explained. "There is a tunnel about ten feet down with a metal ladder leading to it." She glanced at the Captain. "Do you think he'll be able to make it?" She asked the concern showing in her voice.
"I'll make it," Archer said, although his voice was weak it did not disguise the determination. He was functioning on pure will power and adrenaline now, refusing to give up whilst there was any hope of making it to safety.
T'pol nodded and moved closer in to the edge. With a great deal of manoeuvring and several gasps of pain, the two women managed to get the Captain into a position where he was sitting next to the ladder. T'pol began to descend and when she was far enough down, Tetia helped him to step onto the ladder so that T'pol had her arms around him, her shoulder pressing into his lower back as she held them both in place. He gripped the rung with his good hand and they began to descend together one step at a time.
Despite the seriousness of the situation and the pain that he was in , his thoughts were, for the moment at least, fairly lucid. When they were about halfway down, he could not suppress a chuckle as he felt T'pol press against him.
"Captain?" She asked, unsure of what about their current predicament, could generate any emotion other than concern and possibly despair.
"I was just thinking of the lengths I have to go to, to get you to put your arms around me," he replied the mirth in his voice still evident around the tightness caused by the pain he was in.
"I need to put my arms around you to prevent you from falling," T'pol began to explain. "In your current."
"All right, I know why you're doing it" Archer interrupted, realising that, even if he did have the energy to explain the joke, it would still be lost on the Vulcan. Damn, it was sometimes so easy to forget that she wasn't human.
"Captain you need to conserve your strength. We do not know how far we have yet to travel."
And sometimes so hard to forget that she was Vulcan.
T'pol reached the last rung and realised that there was about a two foot drop to the ground. She eased the Captain down until they were both sharing the bottom rung before dropping to the floor keeping her arms around him. She explained the drop and Archer gripped tightly with his good hand before making the jump to the floor. He did not have the strength, however, to support his weight on impact with the ground and his knees buckled. The jarring sensation shot sharp bolts of pain through his ribs and broken arm and in the face of the spasms he lost his grip on the ladder falling backwards into T'pol. The two tumbled to the ground.
Tetia was not far behind and dropped down lightly to the ground beside them as Archer and T'pol rolled over, Archer ending up lying face down on top of her.
As the haze of pain subsided, he finally managed to orient himself and opened his eyes to find himself staring into the face of his Science officer. "We have to stop. meeting like this," he gasped, unable to resist the oldest line in the book, reserved for situations just like these.
Had T'pol understood the cultural references, she might have been relieved by the apparent improvement in the Captain's condition. At the moment he was a least lucid enough to not only make comments, but to use his sense of humour to try to relieve some of the fear and tension that the situation was generating, but she did not understand them and so took the comment at face value, believing it to be an indication that the Captain's fever was getting worse and that he could not remember that they were already together.
"Captain?" she questioned.
By this time Tetia was at their side. "Here let me help you," she said gently, offering her hand.
He stared up at her as emerald green eyes met his, noting for the first time how beautiful she was, pale alabaster skin was lit by a small lamp that cast shadows on her face accentuating her fine features. He studied her for a few moments before a shift beneath him reminded him that he was lying on someone and not the ground.
He looked back at T'pol who still did not protest despite the fact that she was supporting his full weight. "I'm sorry I must be hurting you," he addressed T'pol whilst accepting Tetia's offered hand. With her help he eased himself on to the floor, until he was sitting leaning his back against the wall of the tunnel.
"We will rest a while," T'pol said noting his paleness and ragged breathing, once they had him settled.
"No," Archer said wearily, "We have to keep moving."
Reed forced his eyes away from the weapon to look at the Captain's face, there was a certain element of triumph in the expression.
Trip stepped forward, so that he was a pace or two in front of the other two, putting on his friendliest voice. "Now Jon," he said using the familiar form of address rather than something more formal to try to appeal to his friend. All the while, part of his brain screaming, that it would not work because this was not his friend. "I don't want you blaming these two. This was all my idea I forced them to help me."
"Oh really?" The Captain's eyes narrowed, "And just how did you manage that, they don't seem to be under any constraints to me."
"Well I.." Trip began, desperately trying to think on his feet.
At this point the other two stepped forward to join him. "No, Trip," Malcolm said. "You can't take the blame for this."
"We agreed to it," Hoshi acknowledged.
"Well, however you got here, you are all going to spend the foreseeable future in the Brig." The Captain replied. "Along with your other co- conspirator," he continued, as T'pol stepped out from behind the other side of the Pod holding Dr Phlox by the arm, a phase pistol firmly jammed against his neck. She forced him forward.
Trip, Reed and Hoshi all reacted with a slight shock at the affable doctor being treated in such a way, especially by one of their own crew. As usual he seemed unphased by the situation, his expression, never easy to read, seemed more like that of a friend being introduced at a party than someone with a gun at his throat.
Trip was concerned. "Doc you OK?" he asked, ignoring Archer and T'pol for the moment.
"I have suffered no ill effects thus far," Phlox replied.
As Trip made his comments, Reed noticed that the attention of the Captain and the sub commander were on him and Phlox, he took his opportunity. Ever since he had turned to face the Captain, his tactical brain had been trying to figure a way out of this and he had an idea.
He turned and whispered urgently to Hoshi, "I need you to do something totally unexpected."
She looked blankly at him. "Like what?" She whispered back.
"Doesn't matter as long as I would never expect you to do it in a million years," Reed replied still in a whisper. "I need a diversion."
Hoshi nodded.
"So what now?" Trip was asking, vaguely aware that something was going on beside him.
Before Archer had a chance to answer, Hoshi took a step to her side and then began to Cartwheel across the floor in front of Reed and Trip.
As Reed had anticipated, the unexpected move had the same effect as the exploding console earlier in the day, and Archer and T'pol seemed to momentarily freeze. It was all the time he needed to pull his weapon free from it's place of concealment. The Dr. was in the most danger so he aimed for T'pol first. "Duck Doc," he yelled, slightly annoyed at himself for the inane phrasing, an English education made you worry about grammar at the most inopportune times. The doctor did not need telling twice seizing the opportunity to throw himself out of harms way.
Reed's aim was true and T'pol was hit by the stun blast dropping to the floor in a heap, but the time taken to fire had lost him his advantage over Archer, who had recovered and took aim himself. Reed dived out of the way of the shot but not without taking a glancing blow to his shin. The pain making it clear that the Captain's weapon was not set to stun.
Reed rolled and took refuge behind a large storage bin, the only available cover and the place where Hoshi and Trip had already taken shelter. As Reed pulled himself to a sitting position, his back against the bin, he attempted to steady his breathing and then assess the damage to his leg.
"How bad?" Trip asked, looking at the lieutenant's leg with concern.
"Just a scratch I think," Reed replied as he put his hand around the storage container and without even looking, let alone taking aim, let off a couple of random shots to discourage the Captain from approaching whilst he sorted himself out. "Damn painful though," he continued, wincing as he tried to move it.
Trip nodded, "Just our luck that you're the only one carrying a weapon. Did you see if the doc got away?"
"He made it to cover on the other side of the room I think, but he's unarmed," Reed replied, suddenly concerned that the Captain might go for him instead of tackling them, after all one unarmed man was a better prospect than three people, one of whom was armed. He cautiously moved his head so that he could peer out beyond the container.
He pulled his head back slightly shocked by what he had seen. He looked again, after a few seconds he shifted his injured leg violently, gasping at the pain as he did so, and then he pulled his head back and leant against the storage bin again.
Trip and Hoshi watched him curiously. "What's happening?" Trip asked
Reed didn't say anything for a few moments as he tried to fit his ideas together. He moved to his knees trying to avoid hurting his leg. "Whatever I do in the next minute," he said, "I want you to trust me." He gestured towards the top of the storage bin. "Look out there, tell me what you see."
Trip did as he was asked. The Captain had taken cover behind a block of storage containers over the other side of the room, only his head was visible, T'pol lay motionless on the floor by the Pod, where she had fallen. Trip brought his head back down. "OK," he said.
"What did you see?" Reed asked.
Since Reed had just looked himself, Trip did not see the point of this, but Reed had asked for his trust, so he sighed and described the scene. Then Reed hit him. Not a gentle tap, but a full right hook to his jaw, causing his face to explode in pain and stars to cloud his vision. "What the.." he began when he had recovered enough to speak.
"Look now," Reed commanded, his tone sharp enough to brook no arguments.
Bewildered and angry. What on earth did Reed think he was playing at? Trip nonetheless did as he was asked "Oh !" was all he could say as he looked out once more.
Hoshi could not stand the suspense any longer. "Does one of you two mind telling me what's going on?" She asked, the frustration showing in her voice.
A wicked grin spread over Trip's face, although the pain in his jaw took out some of the pleasure. He gave Reed a knowing glance. "Sure," he said, "Look out there."
Hoshi didn't like the look Trip gave her but her curiosity won out over caution and she did as she was asked, taking in the scene, the Captain still semi-concealed, T'pol still unconscious. She was just about to turn and ask again what this was all about when Trip grabbed the soft flesh on her upper arm and pinched it as hard as he could. She couldn't help letting out a slight yelp at the sharp pain, and that is when she saw what the other two had already seen. Hiding across from her behind some storage containers and lying on the floor by the Pod, were two total strangers in Starfleet Uniform!
Author's note:- I have received some really nice feedback recently and it has helped to encourage me to get this done. This is not a hint, it is a thank you to those who have taken the time and trouble to let me know you are enjoying the story- Thanks
Tetia picked up the weapon T'pol had held and tucked it into her waistband. She then retrieved her own weapon, keeping it in her hand but pointing it at the ground, so that it was not threatening to the two people whom she needed to trust her. She turned to look at T'pol and the Captain. "Is there any way I can help?" She asked concerned at the weight that Archer was resting on T'pol's shoulder.
"We will be fine," T'pol replied, "But we need to move as quickly as possible. I suggest that you lead the way."
Tetia nodded and headed for a door at the back of the room, turning before she reached it to ensure that Archer and T'pol were following. True to her word T'pol was able to support the Captain as they moved forward.
About two hundred yards from where they emerged into the moonlit night, Tetia signalled for them to stop. She lifted a grid and indicated that they needed to go down. T'pol manoeuvred herself and the Captain closer, to peer at what appeared to be a sewer access point.
"As I said it will be much safer to travel underground," Tetia explained. "There is a tunnel about ten feet down with a metal ladder leading to it." She glanced at the Captain. "Do you think he'll be able to make it?" She asked the concern showing in her voice.
"I'll make it," Archer said, although his voice was weak it did not disguise the determination. He was functioning on pure will power and adrenaline now, refusing to give up whilst there was any hope of making it to safety.
T'pol nodded and moved closer in to the edge. With a great deal of manoeuvring and several gasps of pain, the two women managed to get the Captain into a position where he was sitting next to the ladder. T'pol began to descend and when she was far enough down, Tetia helped him to step onto the ladder so that T'pol had her arms around him, her shoulder pressing into his lower back as she held them both in place. He gripped the rung with his good hand and they began to descend together one step at a time.
Despite the seriousness of the situation and the pain that he was in , his thoughts were, for the moment at least, fairly lucid. When they were about halfway down, he could not suppress a chuckle as he felt T'pol press against him.
"Captain?" She asked, unsure of what about their current predicament, could generate any emotion other than concern and possibly despair.
"I was just thinking of the lengths I have to go to, to get you to put your arms around me," he replied the mirth in his voice still evident around the tightness caused by the pain he was in.
"I need to put my arms around you to prevent you from falling," T'pol began to explain. "In your current."
"All right, I know why you're doing it" Archer interrupted, realising that, even if he did have the energy to explain the joke, it would still be lost on the Vulcan. Damn, it was sometimes so easy to forget that she wasn't human.
"Captain you need to conserve your strength. We do not know how far we have yet to travel."
And sometimes so hard to forget that she was Vulcan.
T'pol reached the last rung and realised that there was about a two foot drop to the ground. She eased the Captain down until they were both sharing the bottom rung before dropping to the floor keeping her arms around him. She explained the drop and Archer gripped tightly with his good hand before making the jump to the floor. He did not have the strength, however, to support his weight on impact with the ground and his knees buckled. The jarring sensation shot sharp bolts of pain through his ribs and broken arm and in the face of the spasms he lost his grip on the ladder falling backwards into T'pol. The two tumbled to the ground.
Tetia was not far behind and dropped down lightly to the ground beside them as Archer and T'pol rolled over, Archer ending up lying face down on top of her.
As the haze of pain subsided, he finally managed to orient himself and opened his eyes to find himself staring into the face of his Science officer. "We have to stop. meeting like this," he gasped, unable to resist the oldest line in the book, reserved for situations just like these.
Had T'pol understood the cultural references, she might have been relieved by the apparent improvement in the Captain's condition. At the moment he was a least lucid enough to not only make comments, but to use his sense of humour to try to relieve some of the fear and tension that the situation was generating, but she did not understand them and so took the comment at face value, believing it to be an indication that the Captain's fever was getting worse and that he could not remember that they were already together.
"Captain?" she questioned.
By this time Tetia was at their side. "Here let me help you," she said gently, offering her hand.
He stared up at her as emerald green eyes met his, noting for the first time how beautiful she was, pale alabaster skin was lit by a small lamp that cast shadows on her face accentuating her fine features. He studied her for a few moments before a shift beneath him reminded him that he was lying on someone and not the ground.
He looked back at T'pol who still did not protest despite the fact that she was supporting his full weight. "I'm sorry I must be hurting you," he addressed T'pol whilst accepting Tetia's offered hand. With her help he eased himself on to the floor, until he was sitting leaning his back against the wall of the tunnel.
"We will rest a while," T'pol said noting his paleness and ragged breathing, once they had him settled.
"No," Archer said wearily, "We have to keep moving."
Reed forced his eyes away from the weapon to look at the Captain's face, there was a certain element of triumph in the expression.
Trip stepped forward, so that he was a pace or two in front of the other two, putting on his friendliest voice. "Now Jon," he said using the familiar form of address rather than something more formal to try to appeal to his friend. All the while, part of his brain screaming, that it would not work because this was not his friend. "I don't want you blaming these two. This was all my idea I forced them to help me."
"Oh really?" The Captain's eyes narrowed, "And just how did you manage that, they don't seem to be under any constraints to me."
"Well I.." Trip began, desperately trying to think on his feet.
At this point the other two stepped forward to join him. "No, Trip," Malcolm said. "You can't take the blame for this."
"We agreed to it," Hoshi acknowledged.
"Well, however you got here, you are all going to spend the foreseeable future in the Brig." The Captain replied. "Along with your other co- conspirator," he continued, as T'pol stepped out from behind the other side of the Pod holding Dr Phlox by the arm, a phase pistol firmly jammed against his neck. She forced him forward.
Trip, Reed and Hoshi all reacted with a slight shock at the affable doctor being treated in such a way, especially by one of their own crew. As usual he seemed unphased by the situation, his expression, never easy to read, seemed more like that of a friend being introduced at a party than someone with a gun at his throat.
Trip was concerned. "Doc you OK?" he asked, ignoring Archer and T'pol for the moment.
"I have suffered no ill effects thus far," Phlox replied.
As Trip made his comments, Reed noticed that the attention of the Captain and the sub commander were on him and Phlox, he took his opportunity. Ever since he had turned to face the Captain, his tactical brain had been trying to figure a way out of this and he had an idea.
He turned and whispered urgently to Hoshi, "I need you to do something totally unexpected."
She looked blankly at him. "Like what?" She whispered back.
"Doesn't matter as long as I would never expect you to do it in a million years," Reed replied still in a whisper. "I need a diversion."
Hoshi nodded.
"So what now?" Trip was asking, vaguely aware that something was going on beside him.
Before Archer had a chance to answer, Hoshi took a step to her side and then began to Cartwheel across the floor in front of Reed and Trip.
As Reed had anticipated, the unexpected move had the same effect as the exploding console earlier in the day, and Archer and T'pol seemed to momentarily freeze. It was all the time he needed to pull his weapon free from it's place of concealment. The Dr. was in the most danger so he aimed for T'pol first. "Duck Doc," he yelled, slightly annoyed at himself for the inane phrasing, an English education made you worry about grammar at the most inopportune times. The doctor did not need telling twice seizing the opportunity to throw himself out of harms way.
Reed's aim was true and T'pol was hit by the stun blast dropping to the floor in a heap, but the time taken to fire had lost him his advantage over Archer, who had recovered and took aim himself. Reed dived out of the way of the shot but not without taking a glancing blow to his shin. The pain making it clear that the Captain's weapon was not set to stun.
Reed rolled and took refuge behind a large storage bin, the only available cover and the place where Hoshi and Trip had already taken shelter. As Reed pulled himself to a sitting position, his back against the bin, he attempted to steady his breathing and then assess the damage to his leg.
"How bad?" Trip asked, looking at the lieutenant's leg with concern.
"Just a scratch I think," Reed replied as he put his hand around the storage container and without even looking, let alone taking aim, let off a couple of random shots to discourage the Captain from approaching whilst he sorted himself out. "Damn painful though," he continued, wincing as he tried to move it.
Trip nodded, "Just our luck that you're the only one carrying a weapon. Did you see if the doc got away?"
"He made it to cover on the other side of the room I think, but he's unarmed," Reed replied, suddenly concerned that the Captain might go for him instead of tackling them, after all one unarmed man was a better prospect than three people, one of whom was armed. He cautiously moved his head so that he could peer out beyond the container.
He pulled his head back slightly shocked by what he had seen. He looked again, after a few seconds he shifted his injured leg violently, gasping at the pain as he did so, and then he pulled his head back and leant against the storage bin again.
Trip and Hoshi watched him curiously. "What's happening?" Trip asked
Reed didn't say anything for a few moments as he tried to fit his ideas together. He moved to his knees trying to avoid hurting his leg. "Whatever I do in the next minute," he said, "I want you to trust me." He gestured towards the top of the storage bin. "Look out there, tell me what you see."
Trip did as he was asked. The Captain had taken cover behind a block of storage containers over the other side of the room, only his head was visible, T'pol lay motionless on the floor by the Pod, where she had fallen. Trip brought his head back down. "OK," he said.
"What did you see?" Reed asked.
Since Reed had just looked himself, Trip did not see the point of this, but Reed had asked for his trust, so he sighed and described the scene. Then Reed hit him. Not a gentle tap, but a full right hook to his jaw, causing his face to explode in pain and stars to cloud his vision. "What the.." he began when he had recovered enough to speak.
"Look now," Reed commanded, his tone sharp enough to brook no arguments.
Bewildered and angry. What on earth did Reed think he was playing at? Trip nonetheless did as he was asked "Oh !" was all he could say as he looked out once more.
Hoshi could not stand the suspense any longer. "Does one of you two mind telling me what's going on?" She asked, the frustration showing in her voice.
A wicked grin spread over Trip's face, although the pain in his jaw took out some of the pleasure. He gave Reed a knowing glance. "Sure," he said, "Look out there."
Hoshi didn't like the look Trip gave her but her curiosity won out over caution and she did as she was asked, taking in the scene, the Captain still semi-concealed, T'pol still unconscious. She was just about to turn and ask again what this was all about when Trip grabbed the soft flesh on her upper arm and pinched it as hard as he could. She couldn't help letting out a slight yelp at the sharp pain, and that is when she saw what the other two had already seen. Hiding across from her behind some storage containers and lying on the floor by the Pod, were two total strangers in Starfleet Uniform!
Author's note:- I have received some really nice feedback recently and it has helped to encourage me to get this done. This is not a hint, it is a thank you to those who have taken the time and trouble to let me know you are enjoying the story- Thanks