Part 9 Fighting
Captain Archer put his hand out for assistance. Recognising the stubborn set to his jaw, T'pol decided against giving further advice that he should rest, she stepped forward to once again help him to his feet. He leaned heavily against her and the wall but finally made it to a standing position. Once he had regained his breath, he nodded, "Let's go," he forced the words out.
T'pol nodded to Tetia who set off, leading the way by the light from the small lamp. .
For Jonathan Archer his existence had shrunk to a single purpose, all of his efforts and energies concentrating on the normally simple task of putting one foot in front of the other. At first he tried not to rest too much of his weight on T'pol but as they moved, he paid less and less attention to that, as his focus became taking the next step. He did not notice the change in terrain, did not notice when the tunnel gave out to smaller sewers and they were forced to wade through water which at some points was several inches deep. He was even unaware of how slowly they were moving, Tetia frequently stopping to allow them to catch up. He was just aware of the need to keep placing the next foot forward.
They had been walking for nearly half an hour and T'pol was now supporting most of the Captain's weight as his steps became slower. She had considered stopping and carrying him, as she had earlier through the woods, but the ground in the tunnels was too soft to support the weight of both of them and she calculated that it would slow them down further. Whilst the Captain was conscious, their best chance was to continue as they were. Only if he passed out again would it be logical to change.
She was about to ask Tetia about their destination, knowing that the Captain would not be able to go much further, when he stumbled and almost pulled her down with him, but his proximity to the wall of the tunnel at that point, fortunately saved them both. T'pol turned him to lean his back against it, aware from the sharp grunt of pain that his shoulder had taken the brunt of the impact and had once more jarred his injured arm.
Archer leant back, remaining on his feet only because he was not sufficiently aware of what was happening to realise that he was still standing. T'pol studied him carefully. His eyes were open but defocused and sweat from the fever ran down his face and neck. His normally bright eyes were clouded with fever and pain. The heat that was radiating from his skin could still be felt even though she was no longer holding him up. The side of her uniform where she had been supporting him, still warm to the touch and damp with sweat, the signs were not good.
"How much further?" She asked.
"We're nearly there," Tetia answered moving back to stand beside them. "It's just round the next junction."
"I do not think that he can go on," T'pol said honestly, not taking her eyes from Archer's face.
"I don't think that will be a problem." A male voice spoke from behind them
T'pol turned her head. There were two young men standing in their path and she found herself once again staring into a weapon.
Hoshi ducked her head back down, echoing Trip's "Oh." She looked at her two companions questioningly.
"Well at least we now know that that is definitely not the Captain," Reed offered, the expressions on both Trip and Hoshi's face had confirmed to him that his theory was correct. It was the pain in his leg that had allowed him to see the impostors for what they were. The pain he had inflicted on Trip and he in turn on Hoshi had allowed them to see the same thing. "Now we just have to figure out what to do about it."
"The cartwheel thing," Trip asked, considering their predicament. "What was that all about?"
"As I explained earlier," Reed answered. "Whoever these impostors are, any unexpected event seems to throw them, so that they don't react straight away. I asked Hoshi to do something that I would never expect her to do, as a distraction."
Trip risked a sneaky glance up over the storage bins but the fake Captain had not moved. "So we need to repeat that in order to draw him out." He suggested.
"Yes," Reed replied, thinking. "It could work again, but we need to come up with something that the Captain wouldn't expect."
"Oh trust me," Trip replied, "I'm way ahead of you there. Give Hoshi your weapon."
Reed was slightly taken aback by the order, of the three of them, Hoshi was definitely the worst shot, giving her the only weapon was, he was sure T'pol would have pointed out had she been there, illogical.
Hoshi saw it that way too. "But I'm probably the worst shot here. I only averaged eighty percent on my last competency test," she protested, quite flattered by the confidence Trip was obviously showing in her, but unsure that she wanted the responsibility of the only weapon should something go wrong.
"An' you'll be just fine," Trip replied, "I need the lieutenant here to help me with the diversion." He turned to look back at Reed. "Lieutenant?" He said making it clear that he expected him to hand the gun over.
"Care to tell me what the plan is?" Reed asked, but Trip just grinned.
"You'll find out soon enough, until then you'll have to trust me" he said, gaining his revenge for the almost identical words Reed had uttered before hitting him, he was prepared to make him sweat. Turning back to Hoshi, he continued. "Do you think you could tell the doc, in Denobulan, to make a lot of noise without leaving his cover."
She considered it, assembling the sentence in her head. "Yes I think so," she said.
"OK do it. Then, as soon as you have a clear shot take it," he said. "The Lieutenant and I will provide the distraction this time."
Hoshi nodded and shouted out her instructions to Phlox. There was a short delay, and they all held their breath as they waited for the doctor to do as he was asked. The only one of them who was unsure if it would work was Hoshi, Denobulan was particularly difficult to master and she found herself hoping that she had not just asked him to wash his socks, instead of make a noise. She need not have worried, exactly one minute after she had given the shouted instruction, a large cacophony of noise began from the stack of containers at the other side of the room.
As soon as this started, Trip grabbed hold of Reed's uniform and literally hauled the younger man to his feet so that they could both be clearly seen, yelling at him at the same time. "And I'm telling you I'm the senior officer, I'll make the decisions." With that he took a swing at Reed's head.
The younger man had had a little more warning than he had given Trip for the last punch and ducked out of the way of the blow which was aimed at the side of his face. He made his own quick jab at the commander's solar plexus, aware that this was not for real, he pulled the punch but it was still enough to make Trip gasp for breath.
He entered into the spirit of things. "And I'm the tactical officer," he yelled back, "I deal with combat."
Not that Trip didn't have his own competency in unarmed combat and his next blow connected, striking the lieutenant on the cheekbone.
Hoshi ignored the events taking place beside her focusing all of her attention on the fake Captain Archer. As Reed had predicted the combination of unexpected events seemed to freeze the man in place. She took careful aim at the part of his head that she could see. Now that she was no longer in pain, it looked like Captain Archer again, making the task slightly more difficult as a part of her brain refused to accept that things were not as they seemed, telling her that she could not shoot the Captain. Without worrying about her own cover, she was able to stand clear of the storage bins to give her a better shot. Just as the effect of the unexpected event was wearing off and the false Captain began to move again, raising himself up to take aim at the two fighting officers, she fired.
Her aim was true and the fake Captain crumpled to the ground. Relieved, she felt the intense tension that she had been feeling for the last couple of minutes dissipate, to be replaced with a sense of elation at her own success. She turned to the others, expecting some sort of praise but they had become far too carried away with their diversionary role and were now rolling around on the floor wrestling with each other.
Hoshi moved closer to them. "It's OK you can stop now," she shouted but they did not seem to hear and she had to jump backwards out of the way as they almost rolled into her. "Commander, Lieutenant," she shouted again, making use of their training, knowing that they would respond to the use of their ranks. She kept her tone sharp and this time they both looked up. "I said you can stop now," she completed in a much quieter tone.
Both men looked a little sheepish as they disentangled themselves from each other and stood up. They looked over to the prone form that was lying by the shuttlepod.
Trip straightened his uniform and looked at Hoshi "Well done, I knew you could do it," he said moving over to take the phase pistol from the alien's lifeless hand. Reed limped over to join him. Now they could get a better look, they could see that the man was very similar in appearance to the natives of the planet that they had seen on the viewscreen. The same narrow ridges on the neck that Reed was wearing prosthetic versions of, the same pointed ears and pale skin.
Hoshi had moved to retrieve the weapon from T'pol, since she was no longer in pain, all she could see was the young Vulcan officer lying on the ground. Phlox came out of his cover to join her, his first action was to check the injured alien.
"So, who do you think they are and what do they want?" Reed asked quietly, staring at the body in front of him.
"I dunno," Trip replied "But for the time being that's not important. The question I'd real like to have the answer to is.." His tone was serious as the others turned to look at him. " Where is the real Jonathan Archer?"
For a moment T'pol believed that she had made a miscalculation, she had allowed them to be led into a trap after all. Possibly she had even allowed Tetia to lead them back to their original captors. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the woman who had possibly betrayed them.
"It's all right," Tetia said, directing her attention to the two men. "These are the ones I told you about. I trust them," she continued, showing the men that she had both weapons. "and they have put their trust in me to help them."
One of the young man studied first T'pol and then Captain Archer in the flickering light of the lamp. "He's sick," he said, stating the obvious.
"Very," Tetia confirmed, "They did this to him, one of the reasons why we must help him. You can help carry him to my room."
The young man seemed to consider it for the briefest of moments before nodding and tucking his weapon into his belt.
"This is Narib and Baros," Tetia said as the two men moved forward, "and this is T'pol."
They all acknowledged the introductions to each other with a nod and then the two men focused their attention on lifting the Captain between them, their arms locked together around his shoulders and hooked under his knees. Once they had him they set off at a much more rapid pace.
Within minutes they had left the sewers, this time by some steps and were in a large courtyard. Moving into the building they were taken to a spacious bedroom, where the Captain was quickly stripped of his wet clothing before being place in the bed. For the first time T'pol and Tetia could see the true extent of his injuries. There was a deep gash in his side, caused by the tool he had smuggled out, it was long and ragged and had bled a lot. The rest of his upper torso was covered in ugly purple bruising from the beating he had taken. Together they cleaned and dressed the wound and then covered him with light bedding to try to prevent him losing too much body heat as his temperature continued to climb. Cool cloths were placed on his forehead.
"We have done all that we can for now," Tetia said, finally.
"You have no doctors, no one trained in medicine, who could help?" T'pol asked.
"Not that we can trust," Tetia replied regretfully, knowing that Archer really needed more than just rest. "All we can do is wait and hope that the fever breaks."
T'pol looked at the Captain who shivered again and groaned at the pain the movement caused "I do not think that will be enough," she said quietly. Moving to kneel by his side, she took the cloth and dipped it once more in the icy water. Very gently she used it to wipe the sweat from his face and cool the skin. For once she hoped that she was wrong.
Captain Archer put his hand out for assistance. Recognising the stubborn set to his jaw, T'pol decided against giving further advice that he should rest, she stepped forward to once again help him to his feet. He leaned heavily against her and the wall but finally made it to a standing position. Once he had regained his breath, he nodded, "Let's go," he forced the words out.
T'pol nodded to Tetia who set off, leading the way by the light from the small lamp. .
For Jonathan Archer his existence had shrunk to a single purpose, all of his efforts and energies concentrating on the normally simple task of putting one foot in front of the other. At first he tried not to rest too much of his weight on T'pol but as they moved, he paid less and less attention to that, as his focus became taking the next step. He did not notice the change in terrain, did not notice when the tunnel gave out to smaller sewers and they were forced to wade through water which at some points was several inches deep. He was even unaware of how slowly they were moving, Tetia frequently stopping to allow them to catch up. He was just aware of the need to keep placing the next foot forward.
They had been walking for nearly half an hour and T'pol was now supporting most of the Captain's weight as his steps became slower. She had considered stopping and carrying him, as she had earlier through the woods, but the ground in the tunnels was too soft to support the weight of both of them and she calculated that it would slow them down further. Whilst the Captain was conscious, their best chance was to continue as they were. Only if he passed out again would it be logical to change.
She was about to ask Tetia about their destination, knowing that the Captain would not be able to go much further, when he stumbled and almost pulled her down with him, but his proximity to the wall of the tunnel at that point, fortunately saved them both. T'pol turned him to lean his back against it, aware from the sharp grunt of pain that his shoulder had taken the brunt of the impact and had once more jarred his injured arm.
Archer leant back, remaining on his feet only because he was not sufficiently aware of what was happening to realise that he was still standing. T'pol studied him carefully. His eyes were open but defocused and sweat from the fever ran down his face and neck. His normally bright eyes were clouded with fever and pain. The heat that was radiating from his skin could still be felt even though she was no longer holding him up. The side of her uniform where she had been supporting him, still warm to the touch and damp with sweat, the signs were not good.
"How much further?" She asked.
"We're nearly there," Tetia answered moving back to stand beside them. "It's just round the next junction."
"I do not think that he can go on," T'pol said honestly, not taking her eyes from Archer's face.
"I don't think that will be a problem." A male voice spoke from behind them
T'pol turned her head. There were two young men standing in their path and she found herself once again staring into a weapon.
Hoshi ducked her head back down, echoing Trip's "Oh." She looked at her two companions questioningly.
"Well at least we now know that that is definitely not the Captain," Reed offered, the expressions on both Trip and Hoshi's face had confirmed to him that his theory was correct. It was the pain in his leg that had allowed him to see the impostors for what they were. The pain he had inflicted on Trip and he in turn on Hoshi had allowed them to see the same thing. "Now we just have to figure out what to do about it."
"The cartwheel thing," Trip asked, considering their predicament. "What was that all about?"
"As I explained earlier," Reed answered. "Whoever these impostors are, any unexpected event seems to throw them, so that they don't react straight away. I asked Hoshi to do something that I would never expect her to do, as a distraction."
Trip risked a sneaky glance up over the storage bins but the fake Captain had not moved. "So we need to repeat that in order to draw him out." He suggested.
"Yes," Reed replied, thinking. "It could work again, but we need to come up with something that the Captain wouldn't expect."
"Oh trust me," Trip replied, "I'm way ahead of you there. Give Hoshi your weapon."
Reed was slightly taken aback by the order, of the three of them, Hoshi was definitely the worst shot, giving her the only weapon was, he was sure T'pol would have pointed out had she been there, illogical.
Hoshi saw it that way too. "But I'm probably the worst shot here. I only averaged eighty percent on my last competency test," she protested, quite flattered by the confidence Trip was obviously showing in her, but unsure that she wanted the responsibility of the only weapon should something go wrong.
"An' you'll be just fine," Trip replied, "I need the lieutenant here to help me with the diversion." He turned to look back at Reed. "Lieutenant?" He said making it clear that he expected him to hand the gun over.
"Care to tell me what the plan is?" Reed asked, but Trip just grinned.
"You'll find out soon enough, until then you'll have to trust me" he said, gaining his revenge for the almost identical words Reed had uttered before hitting him, he was prepared to make him sweat. Turning back to Hoshi, he continued. "Do you think you could tell the doc, in Denobulan, to make a lot of noise without leaving his cover."
She considered it, assembling the sentence in her head. "Yes I think so," she said.
"OK do it. Then, as soon as you have a clear shot take it," he said. "The Lieutenant and I will provide the distraction this time."
Hoshi nodded and shouted out her instructions to Phlox. There was a short delay, and they all held their breath as they waited for the doctor to do as he was asked. The only one of them who was unsure if it would work was Hoshi, Denobulan was particularly difficult to master and she found herself hoping that she had not just asked him to wash his socks, instead of make a noise. She need not have worried, exactly one minute after she had given the shouted instruction, a large cacophony of noise began from the stack of containers at the other side of the room.
As soon as this started, Trip grabbed hold of Reed's uniform and literally hauled the younger man to his feet so that they could both be clearly seen, yelling at him at the same time. "And I'm telling you I'm the senior officer, I'll make the decisions." With that he took a swing at Reed's head.
The younger man had had a little more warning than he had given Trip for the last punch and ducked out of the way of the blow which was aimed at the side of his face. He made his own quick jab at the commander's solar plexus, aware that this was not for real, he pulled the punch but it was still enough to make Trip gasp for breath.
He entered into the spirit of things. "And I'm the tactical officer," he yelled back, "I deal with combat."
Not that Trip didn't have his own competency in unarmed combat and his next blow connected, striking the lieutenant on the cheekbone.
Hoshi ignored the events taking place beside her focusing all of her attention on the fake Captain Archer. As Reed had predicted the combination of unexpected events seemed to freeze the man in place. She took careful aim at the part of his head that she could see. Now that she was no longer in pain, it looked like Captain Archer again, making the task slightly more difficult as a part of her brain refused to accept that things were not as they seemed, telling her that she could not shoot the Captain. Without worrying about her own cover, she was able to stand clear of the storage bins to give her a better shot. Just as the effect of the unexpected event was wearing off and the false Captain began to move again, raising himself up to take aim at the two fighting officers, she fired.
Her aim was true and the fake Captain crumpled to the ground. Relieved, she felt the intense tension that she had been feeling for the last couple of minutes dissipate, to be replaced with a sense of elation at her own success. She turned to the others, expecting some sort of praise but they had become far too carried away with their diversionary role and were now rolling around on the floor wrestling with each other.
Hoshi moved closer to them. "It's OK you can stop now," she shouted but they did not seem to hear and she had to jump backwards out of the way as they almost rolled into her. "Commander, Lieutenant," she shouted again, making use of their training, knowing that they would respond to the use of their ranks. She kept her tone sharp and this time they both looked up. "I said you can stop now," she completed in a much quieter tone.
Both men looked a little sheepish as they disentangled themselves from each other and stood up. They looked over to the prone form that was lying by the shuttlepod.
Trip straightened his uniform and looked at Hoshi "Well done, I knew you could do it," he said moving over to take the phase pistol from the alien's lifeless hand. Reed limped over to join him. Now they could get a better look, they could see that the man was very similar in appearance to the natives of the planet that they had seen on the viewscreen. The same narrow ridges on the neck that Reed was wearing prosthetic versions of, the same pointed ears and pale skin.
Hoshi had moved to retrieve the weapon from T'pol, since she was no longer in pain, all she could see was the young Vulcan officer lying on the ground. Phlox came out of his cover to join her, his first action was to check the injured alien.
"So, who do you think they are and what do they want?" Reed asked quietly, staring at the body in front of him.
"I dunno," Trip replied "But for the time being that's not important. The question I'd real like to have the answer to is.." His tone was serious as the others turned to look at him. " Where is the real Jonathan Archer?"
For a moment T'pol believed that she had made a miscalculation, she had allowed them to be led into a trap after all. Possibly she had even allowed Tetia to lead them back to their original captors. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the woman who had possibly betrayed them.
"It's all right," Tetia said, directing her attention to the two men. "These are the ones I told you about. I trust them," she continued, showing the men that she had both weapons. "and they have put their trust in me to help them."
One of the young man studied first T'pol and then Captain Archer in the flickering light of the lamp. "He's sick," he said, stating the obvious.
"Very," Tetia confirmed, "They did this to him, one of the reasons why we must help him. You can help carry him to my room."
The young man seemed to consider it for the briefest of moments before nodding and tucking his weapon into his belt.
"This is Narib and Baros," Tetia said as the two men moved forward, "and this is T'pol."
They all acknowledged the introductions to each other with a nod and then the two men focused their attention on lifting the Captain between them, their arms locked together around his shoulders and hooked under his knees. Once they had him they set off at a much more rapid pace.
Within minutes they had left the sewers, this time by some steps and were in a large courtyard. Moving into the building they were taken to a spacious bedroom, where the Captain was quickly stripped of his wet clothing before being place in the bed. For the first time T'pol and Tetia could see the true extent of his injuries. There was a deep gash in his side, caused by the tool he had smuggled out, it was long and ragged and had bled a lot. The rest of his upper torso was covered in ugly purple bruising from the beating he had taken. Together they cleaned and dressed the wound and then covered him with light bedding to try to prevent him losing too much body heat as his temperature continued to climb. Cool cloths were placed on his forehead.
"We have done all that we can for now," Tetia said, finally.
"You have no doctors, no one trained in medicine, who could help?" T'pol asked.
"Not that we can trust," Tetia replied regretfully, knowing that Archer really needed more than just rest. "All we can do is wait and hope that the fever breaks."
T'pol looked at the Captain who shivered again and groaned at the pain the movement caused "I do not think that will be enough," she said quietly. Moving to kneel by his side, she took the cloth and dipped it once more in the icy water. Very gently she used it to wipe the sweat from his face and cool the skin. For once she hoped that she was wrong.