Part 11 Out of the Frying Pan.

Trip opened his eyes slowly and quickly shut them again, as the bright light was accompanied by a sharp pain. He heard a female voice. "I think he's coming round." It took him a moment to recognise that it was Hoshi who had spoken. There was some movement next to him and then he heard another familiar voice.

"Commander Tucker, can you hear me?" Phlox said, he paused a few moments and then repeated the phrase.

Trip shifted his position and heard a groan, again it took him a moment to register that he was the one who had made the sound, cautiously he tried opening his eyes again. This time the pain was slightly less and he kept them open, blinking several times as his eyes adjusted to the light and came into focus.

"Welcome back Commander," Phlox said smiling at him

"What the?.. Where?." He began to ask as he tried to piece together what had happened. He also tried to sit up and that was a mistake as a wave of nausea, not to mention a return of the blinding pain accompanied the movement.

"Now take it easy, Commander. You've taken quite a nasty knock on the head and you need to rest." Phlox replied pushing him gently but firmly back down. "Now tell me what you remember and I'll fill you in from there."

Trip let his head fall back on to the pillow and concentrated on ordering his confused thoughts. "I remember being fired on in the launch bay by the Captain and T'pol. Only.. it wasn't really them was it?"

Phlox shook his head. "What else?"

"I remember.. another fight. with Malcolm.. Lieutenant Reed. but I'm not sure why." He looked up at the doctor, "I'm sorry there's nothing after that Doc, until I woke up here." He turned his head carefully to look round and took in the wrecked interior of the pod. "What happened?"

Phlox sighed. "Under normal circumstances, I'd wait to see if more of your memory returned naturally but I don't feel we have time for that. Ensign." He looked across at Hoshi, "If you'd be so kind, I'll go back to helping Lieutenant Reed"

Hoshi attempted a smile, albeit slightly strained, and sat down next to Trip. "I'm tempted to start with 'Once upon a time.'" she said, "since if I hadn't been a part of it I would be sure all this was made up." And she began to detail the events of the last day.



Tetia looked at T'pol and took a deep breath. "In order for you to understand what is happening," she began, "I need to explain a little about our people, our history."

T'pol nodded but as Tetia opened her mouth to speak again she was interrupted, Baros rushed into the room. "Excuse me but I need a word," he said aiming his comment and his troubled gaze at Tetia.

Realising that he was not going to tell her what was wrong in front of T'pol, Tetia stood and moved over to him. There was an agitated exchange in whispers, making it clear to T'pol, if it were not already evident, that he still did not trust her.

Tetia, however, did. She dismissed the young man and turned back to T'pol. "The history lesson must wait," she said quickly, "It is one of the craft from your ship, it has crashed into the forest," she continued to explain, "We must get to any survivors before they do."

"I will come with you," T'pol stated.

Tetia began to protest but T'pol interrupted. "My people will not trust you, unless I am with you. It will be important that you gain their trust quickly."

"Very well," Tetia conceded, "but we must move quickly."

They both headed for the door but T'pol stopped as she reached it and despite herself looked back at the Captain.

Tetia had noticed the pause. "I will send someone to sit with him."

T'pol looked into the young woman's eyes and nodded slightly, then she carried on through the door.



"I could treat this a lot more easily if you would stop moving around and come and sit with your leg up," Phlox said, the frustration showing in his voice.

"I'm sorry doctor, but I need to get these sensors working." Reed replied, continuing to work on the panel in front of him. "It's the only thing that will tell us if there's anyone approaching the pod," He looked over to where Hoshi was explaining the situation to Trip. "And at the moment we could do with all of the warning we can get. How is he?" he asked, nodding in Trip's direction.

Phlox looked over. "I'm beginning to believe in a better state than you. The blow to the head has caused a mild concussion, but apart from that he seems to be all right." He moved Reed's leg as gently as he could, but Reed could not hide the wince that it caused. "The panel that trapped your injured leg, however, has aggravated the phaser injury. I'd be surprised if you can put any weight on it."

"Well I'll let you know in a.. Damn" Reed interrupted himself with the curse.

"I'm sorry lieutenant," Phlox said apologetically. "I didn't mean to cause you further pain."

"It's not that," Reed said, turning to look at them. "I just got the sensors working and I'm afraid that we're going to have company and soon. Ready or not I think it's time we get out of here." The last part was said loudly so that Hoshi and Trip could hear it.

Hoshi had finished filling Trip in on the situation, hearing her explain it had allowed some of his own memories to return. He caught the urgency in Reed's tone and forced himself first to a sitting position and then to a stand.. "How close?" he asked trying to ignore the nausea and dizziness that accompanied his actions

"About three hundred metres," Reed replied. "They're coming in from the West."

As Trip's vision cleared, he moved over to join Reed and look at the sensor readouts. "OK like you say now'd be a good time to get outta here." He looked at Hoshi and Phlox. "Take what you think we'll need and get moving. We need to head towards the East."

The doctor and ensign both nodded. Phlox picked up his medical kit and Hoshi grabbed her translator and some water and they opened the hatch.

Reed looked up at his friend. "You go, get them out of here," he said pulling out his phaser. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

Trip looked at him uncomprehendingly for a minute. "Are you crazy?" he asked. " 'cos if you think for one second that I'm going to leave you here, you must be."

Reed held his gaze. "With the way my leg feels now," he replied. "I don't think that I could walk let alone run. I'll just slow you down. You three stand a much better chance of escape without me."

Trip shook his head. "I ain't never left a man behind an' I don't intend to start now. You're coming with us, even if I have to carry you."

Reed looked into the eyes of his friend and senior officer, searching for a moment for a weakness in his position. He found none. Nevertheless he tried one last time. "It would be better if some of us got away rather than all of us captured."

"What can I say," Trip replied, "I'm an all or nothing kind of guy. Now get you're butt moving or we really will stand no chance."

Reluctantly Reed pushed himself to his feet and, Trip supporting him, limped towards the door. "You know I really think..."

"Lieutenant," Trip interrupted wearily, waiting for Reed to look at him before finishing with. "Shut up."

Reed closed his mouth, realising that any further comment would be futile. As they reached the hatch Phlox took over his support, leaving Trip free to help defend them should an attack come.

Together they had managed to bring the pod down in the only area resembling a clearing, in what was otherwise a heavily wooded region and, despite the power loss and damaged systems, they had managed to compensate and keep it mostly in one piece. Without Trip's engineering skills and their joint piloting skills they would not have made it down, at least not alive.

Trip scanned the area before indicating to the others that they should head across to a nearby cluster of trees. Once they were in the forest they would be difficult to track.

Hoshi took the lead with Phlox supporting Reed a few feet behind. Trip took the rear walking backwards and scanning the area for movement as they went. They all had their phasers drawn except for Phlox who carried his medical kit in his free hand.

They had almost reached the safety of the trees when the first shot rang out. It chipped the bark just above Trip's head, both he and Reed simultaneously turned and fired as one in the direction it had come from. Reed had already made it behind cover and he dropped to his knees taking aim again so that he could provide covering fire for Trip, as the commander threw himself into the treeline.

Recovering Trip pulled himself up beside Reed. "How many?" He asked, knowing that the tactical officer would have already weighed up their opposition.

"Three that I can identify for definite possibly more," Reed said firing again. The branch above his head disintegrated and leaves rained down on him. He adjusted his aim and took another shot. "Make that four," and then as more shots rang out, "no, six."

Trip shouted across to the others. "Doc, Hoshi, you two all right?"

"Fine," Hoshi shouted back, confirming her statement by firing off a couple of shots of her own. "Looks like the natives aren't friendly."

"Yeah, but we knew that already," Trip returned.

"Any suggestions?" Reed asked.

"Hey you're the tactical officer." Trip replied, despite the flippant reply he was doing his best to formulate a strategy.

"Well we could," Reed began stopping abruptly as he sensed something behind him. "Damn I think we've been flanked." He stated turning to try to identify the direction of his would be attackers. "Get down." He yelled as the forest behind him exploded with weapons fire.