Part 13 Recovery
Phlox wasted no more time, he did not hold much hope for the Captain, given his condition, but there was no way he was going to give up without a fight. The most immediate priority was to reduce his body temperature before the elevated fever caused convulsions, coma or worse, then he could deal with treatment. He began issuing instructions.
First he dispatched T'pol and Hoshi to get towels and cool water, then he ordered Reed to sit with his leg elevated, he did not need another patient who required urgent treatment. Finally, he gave Trip the job of holding his medical bag. Not because he needed it holding, but because he needed to give the Commander something to do that would keep him still and in a position where he could keep an eye on him. The run through the forest had done him no good at all and he really needed to rest, but the doctor recognised that, given his deep concern for his friend, he also needed to feel useful.
The next hour was spent in fairly frantic activity as the doctor did his best to help the Captain, At first they were all involved, as they worked to bring his temperature down. Then Phlox ordered them away as he continued his treatment. They all sat at the far end of the room.
"So, what happened?" Trip asked, as he sat down wearily in a chair.
T'pol quietly detailed the events from when they had arrived on the planet's surface. They hadn't noticed anything wrong until about half an hour after they had landed. The apparently friendly visit had, from that time on, taken a dramatic and violent turn for the worse.
T'pol had noticed that there was something strange happening to her. When she looked at certain things they seemed to change. She had thought for a few moments that there was something wrong with her eyes or she had developed some sort of illness that was causing her to hallucinate. She had been about to tell the Captain when the guards had surrounded them.
"What's going on?" Archer had asked, as their friendly hosts suddenly turned hostile. He stepped forward towards the people who moments earlier had been giving them a guided tour but his path was blocked by two guards. Their guides ignored his requests for information instead they whispered amongst themselves, occasionally looking over at T'pol. Archer found his anger and frustration building as the guards impassively blocked his path.
"Captain," T'pol had whispered, "Be careful, things here are not as they seem."
She did not get the chance to add anything else as finally their guides turned to address them."I'm sorry about that Captain." A nod caused the two guards in front of Archer to move apart.
Archer stepped forward. "So would you like to tell me.." but he got no further as one of the guards raised his weapon and hit him a heavy blow across the back of his neck. He dropped to the floor stunned.
T'pol reacted, stepping forward to help, but stopped abruptly as she felt the cold metal of a weapon make contact with her skin. "Move and you die," The guard next to her had threatened, and so she was forced to watch helplessly as the Captain struggled to his knees.
"No," one of their guides said to the other, staring down at the Captain's dazed and kneeling form. "that makes it much worse. I am getting nothing at all now."
"I agree," said the second guide, sighing resignedly, "He has the information buried too deep. We will have to resort to more primitive methods." Again another nod was all that was needed and the guards on either side of the Captain shouldered their weapons and half dragged, half carried him away. T'pol was forced to watch, "Where are you taking him," she asked, doing her best to ignore the weapon at her throat, but once again the guides were ignoring her. That was the last she had seen of the Captain, until he had been thrown into the cell with her, several hours later.
T'pol detailed the escape from the compound and how they had met up with Tetia. ".. She brought us back here and we did what we could for the Captain." She completed her narrative. "That was when we were informed of your crash and came to help."
"Still none of this explains what is going on." Reed said, shifting in his seat and trying to adjust to a position where his leg hurt less.
"Now I believe it is your turn to explain to me how you came to crash. Are you part of a rescue party from the ship?" T'pol asked
Trip, Hoshi and Reed all exchanged glances. "Not exactly," Trip replied as he filled T'pol in on the situation aboard Enterprise.
Tetia arrived just as he was finishing his account, she was accompanied by Baros. "I have brought you food," she indicated the tray she was carrying, "and blankets." She indicated the bundle in Baros' arms. "I am sorry that we do not have larger accommodations for you. You all need to get some rest and we will talk in the morning."
T'pol stood and took the tray as Baros distributed the blankets. "Thank you." She said
Tetia looked across at the bed. "How is your Captain?"
"Our doctor is doing his best," was the most positive thing T'pol could say as she followed Tetia's gaze. She then turned back to look at their host. "All of your people returned safely from the rescue?" She asked.
Tetia appreciated T'pol's concern and, not for the first time, knew that she had been right to take the risk in helping these people. "Yes, the last returned about an our ago having laid a false trail."
T'pol noted how tired Tetia looked, it was clear that she was having difficulty keeping her eyes open. She looked back at the rest of the Enterprise crew, their weariness was also evident in their expressions and their body language. "We will get some rest. Thank you again for your help."
"You can thank me when you are back on your ship," Tetia replied. "If you need anything else just ask."
Having eaten in virtual silence, too exhausted to do much else, they all did their best to make themselves comfortable for the night. Phlox had left the Captain long enough to check on both Reed and Trip, who had both, characteristically tried to insist that they were fine and that he should go back to the 'real' patient. Phlox ignored their protests and gave them both something for the pain and inflamation from their injuries and to ward off any infection, taking revenge for their reticence about being treated, by informing them that had they been on the ship, their injuries would be healed by now.
T'pol took the opportunity to resume her interupted meditation, once the others were asleep. After everything that had happened she needed desperately to regain her focus.
Fortunately the Denobulan Doctor did not need to sleep and he returned to his vigil by the Captain's side.
The first light of the planet's dawn was streaking through the windows when T'pol felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She opened her eyes pulling herself back from her meditative state and turned to look at the doctor who was smiling down at her. "The fever's broken and he's awake," he said, his voice low so as not to disturb the others. "He's asking for you."
T'pol was instantly on her feet and ready to move to the Captain's side. The recent meditation allowed her to control and redirect the surge of emotion that once again threatened to break through. She told herself that it was logical to want to go straight to the Captain's side, as a human he would need reassurance and support that she would not. It was also logical to be grateful that he had survived, his skills would be needed if they were going to get Enterprise back and, come to that, when they succeeded in getting it back, but a small part of her brain had to admit that there was more to her reaction than that.
She sat on the side of the bed and looked down at him, he was still too pale but his skin had regained a little of it's colour. "Captain," she said softly.
He turned to look at her. "T'pol," he said, "What.. Where..?" He looked round, struggling to remember where he was and how he got there. He knew that the doctor was there, but he was also aware that he was definitely not in sick bay. He also knew that his last memories involved T'pol, if only he could remember, but his head ached with the effort of trying. He attempted to sit up.
"No, lie still Captain, your system still needs time to recover," T'pol said, gently pushing him back down.
"Recover.." he repeated. "Recover from what? What happened? Why aren't we on the ship?"
T'pol realised that the recent trauma had affected his memory, so she began with when they arrived at the planet, taking him slowly through the events.
As she spoke Archer's mind began to clear, the memories returning, the beating, the escape, meeting with Tetia, but there his memories stopped. As T'pol described their journey through the underground sewer system, he realised that his fever must have been bad by this point.
"So how did the doctor get here?" He asked.
"That's another long story," T'pol replied. "I believe I will let Commander Tucker fill you in on that when he awakes."
"Trip's here?" Archer asked, moving to sit up again and this time having more success than the last. He propped himself on the elbow of his uninjured arm and looked down the room, for the first time taking in the other sleeping forms, spread on the chairs and couches at the end of the room.
"And Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato," T'pol nodded confirmation. "Their shuttlepod crashed here during the night," Archer shot her a concerned look. "They suffered only minor injuries, but as I say I will let the Commander explain. You may have questions for him."
Archer rested back on the pillow and started to sort out his thoughts. The fact that most of the ships' bridge crew were stranded on the planet's surface did not bode well and the fact that the shuttlepod had crashed could only indicate some fairly powerful hostile forces acting against them. He did not have all of the facts yet but he was fairly sure that they had no chance of rescue. Whatever was going on, this was a situation that they were going to have to get themselves out of.
"I need to speak to Tetia," he eventually said. "We need to know everything that she can tell us if we are going to get out of this."
"I will see if I can find her," T'pol replied, standing. "Meanwhile you need to rest."
Both Tucker and Reed were fairly light sleepers, but they were exhausted from the events of the previous day so the movement in the room and quiet conversation did not wake them, until T'pol walked past and opened the door as she headed off to look for Tetia. Trip stirred first, rubbing his eyes and sitting up before attempting to stretch the kinks out of his muscles. Reed followed almost mimicking his moves as he shook himself awake and then stretched. It wasn't until he attempted to stretch his legs out that the matching movements stopped, as Reed winced in pain at moving the injured muscles. He sucked in a sharp breath.
Trip was up and over by his side at the audible gasp of pain. He looked around and spotted Phlox. "Doc over here," he called across the room as he took in his friend's still pained exprssion.
"I'm OK," Reed forced out, "just shouldn't have moved so quickly."
"Here let me look," Phlox said, arriving with his medical bag and kneeling by Reed's leg. As he carefully began to remove the dressing, he looked up at Trip. "You might want to go over and talk to the Captain, I believe he'd like to see you."
Trip looked at the doctor blankly for a moment, waiting for his freshly woken senses to consider all of the implications of the doctor's statement. "He's awake? He's going to be all right?" He asked.
Phlox nodded and then turned his attention back to the Lieutenant's leg.
Trip quickly covered the distance to the Captain's bed, stopping just short of it, he stood and watched for a moment, suddenly feeling awkward about his powerful emotions.
Archer turned to look at him and smiled. "Trip," he said, pleased, despite the situation, to see his friend.
Trip smiled back and stepped forward, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Jon, good to see you awake."
The two men smiled at each other for a moment longer, a wealth of emotion that they could never express to each other in words, but which was somehow understood, exchanged in the short silence. Then Archer's mind returned to the matters at hand. "So, would you mind telling me what's happening on my ship?"
By the time T'pol returned, accompanied by Tetia, Trip had explained the situation on Enterprise and had answered, where he could, the Captain's questions.
Tetia made her way straight over to the Captain, watched by the others in the room, the relief evident on her face. Trip stood as she approached "Captain Archer," she said, sitting next to the Captain in the position that Trip had just vacated. "I don't know if you remember our last meeting, but I am Tetia."
The Captain stared into her green eyes, they were not something that he could easily forget. "I remember," he looked down at her hands, "I'm just relieved that you don't have a weapon this time."
Tetia smiled. "I know that I do not need one," she replied. She turned to look at the assembled group. "I think it's about time I attempted to explain what is happening"
Phlox wasted no more time, he did not hold much hope for the Captain, given his condition, but there was no way he was going to give up without a fight. The most immediate priority was to reduce his body temperature before the elevated fever caused convulsions, coma or worse, then he could deal with treatment. He began issuing instructions.
First he dispatched T'pol and Hoshi to get towels and cool water, then he ordered Reed to sit with his leg elevated, he did not need another patient who required urgent treatment. Finally, he gave Trip the job of holding his medical bag. Not because he needed it holding, but because he needed to give the Commander something to do that would keep him still and in a position where he could keep an eye on him. The run through the forest had done him no good at all and he really needed to rest, but the doctor recognised that, given his deep concern for his friend, he also needed to feel useful.
The next hour was spent in fairly frantic activity as the doctor did his best to help the Captain, At first they were all involved, as they worked to bring his temperature down. Then Phlox ordered them away as he continued his treatment. They all sat at the far end of the room.
"So, what happened?" Trip asked, as he sat down wearily in a chair.
T'pol quietly detailed the events from when they had arrived on the planet's surface. They hadn't noticed anything wrong until about half an hour after they had landed. The apparently friendly visit had, from that time on, taken a dramatic and violent turn for the worse.
T'pol had noticed that there was something strange happening to her. When she looked at certain things they seemed to change. She had thought for a few moments that there was something wrong with her eyes or she had developed some sort of illness that was causing her to hallucinate. She had been about to tell the Captain when the guards had surrounded them.
"What's going on?" Archer had asked, as their friendly hosts suddenly turned hostile. He stepped forward towards the people who moments earlier had been giving them a guided tour but his path was blocked by two guards. Their guides ignored his requests for information instead they whispered amongst themselves, occasionally looking over at T'pol. Archer found his anger and frustration building as the guards impassively blocked his path.
"Captain," T'pol had whispered, "Be careful, things here are not as they seem."
She did not get the chance to add anything else as finally their guides turned to address them."I'm sorry about that Captain." A nod caused the two guards in front of Archer to move apart.
Archer stepped forward. "So would you like to tell me.." but he got no further as one of the guards raised his weapon and hit him a heavy blow across the back of his neck. He dropped to the floor stunned.
T'pol reacted, stepping forward to help, but stopped abruptly as she felt the cold metal of a weapon make contact with her skin. "Move and you die," The guard next to her had threatened, and so she was forced to watch helplessly as the Captain struggled to his knees.
"No," one of their guides said to the other, staring down at the Captain's dazed and kneeling form. "that makes it much worse. I am getting nothing at all now."
"I agree," said the second guide, sighing resignedly, "He has the information buried too deep. We will have to resort to more primitive methods." Again another nod was all that was needed and the guards on either side of the Captain shouldered their weapons and half dragged, half carried him away. T'pol was forced to watch, "Where are you taking him," she asked, doing her best to ignore the weapon at her throat, but once again the guides were ignoring her. That was the last she had seen of the Captain, until he had been thrown into the cell with her, several hours later.
T'pol detailed the escape from the compound and how they had met up with Tetia. ".. She brought us back here and we did what we could for the Captain." She completed her narrative. "That was when we were informed of your crash and came to help."
"Still none of this explains what is going on." Reed said, shifting in his seat and trying to adjust to a position where his leg hurt less.
"Now I believe it is your turn to explain to me how you came to crash. Are you part of a rescue party from the ship?" T'pol asked
Trip, Hoshi and Reed all exchanged glances. "Not exactly," Trip replied as he filled T'pol in on the situation aboard Enterprise.
Tetia arrived just as he was finishing his account, she was accompanied by Baros. "I have brought you food," she indicated the tray she was carrying, "and blankets." She indicated the bundle in Baros' arms. "I am sorry that we do not have larger accommodations for you. You all need to get some rest and we will talk in the morning."
T'pol stood and took the tray as Baros distributed the blankets. "Thank you." She said
Tetia looked across at the bed. "How is your Captain?"
"Our doctor is doing his best," was the most positive thing T'pol could say as she followed Tetia's gaze. She then turned back to look at their host. "All of your people returned safely from the rescue?" She asked.
Tetia appreciated T'pol's concern and, not for the first time, knew that she had been right to take the risk in helping these people. "Yes, the last returned about an our ago having laid a false trail."
T'pol noted how tired Tetia looked, it was clear that she was having difficulty keeping her eyes open. She looked back at the rest of the Enterprise crew, their weariness was also evident in their expressions and their body language. "We will get some rest. Thank you again for your help."
"You can thank me when you are back on your ship," Tetia replied. "If you need anything else just ask."
Having eaten in virtual silence, too exhausted to do much else, they all did their best to make themselves comfortable for the night. Phlox had left the Captain long enough to check on both Reed and Trip, who had both, characteristically tried to insist that they were fine and that he should go back to the 'real' patient. Phlox ignored their protests and gave them both something for the pain and inflamation from their injuries and to ward off any infection, taking revenge for their reticence about being treated, by informing them that had they been on the ship, their injuries would be healed by now.
T'pol took the opportunity to resume her interupted meditation, once the others were asleep. After everything that had happened she needed desperately to regain her focus.
Fortunately the Denobulan Doctor did not need to sleep and he returned to his vigil by the Captain's side.
The first light of the planet's dawn was streaking through the windows when T'pol felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She opened her eyes pulling herself back from her meditative state and turned to look at the doctor who was smiling down at her. "The fever's broken and he's awake," he said, his voice low so as not to disturb the others. "He's asking for you."
T'pol was instantly on her feet and ready to move to the Captain's side. The recent meditation allowed her to control and redirect the surge of emotion that once again threatened to break through. She told herself that it was logical to want to go straight to the Captain's side, as a human he would need reassurance and support that she would not. It was also logical to be grateful that he had survived, his skills would be needed if they were going to get Enterprise back and, come to that, when they succeeded in getting it back, but a small part of her brain had to admit that there was more to her reaction than that.
She sat on the side of the bed and looked down at him, he was still too pale but his skin had regained a little of it's colour. "Captain," she said softly.
He turned to look at her. "T'pol," he said, "What.. Where..?" He looked round, struggling to remember where he was and how he got there. He knew that the doctor was there, but he was also aware that he was definitely not in sick bay. He also knew that his last memories involved T'pol, if only he could remember, but his head ached with the effort of trying. He attempted to sit up.
"No, lie still Captain, your system still needs time to recover," T'pol said, gently pushing him back down.
"Recover.." he repeated. "Recover from what? What happened? Why aren't we on the ship?"
T'pol realised that the recent trauma had affected his memory, so she began with when they arrived at the planet, taking him slowly through the events.
As she spoke Archer's mind began to clear, the memories returning, the beating, the escape, meeting with Tetia, but there his memories stopped. As T'pol described their journey through the underground sewer system, he realised that his fever must have been bad by this point.
"So how did the doctor get here?" He asked.
"That's another long story," T'pol replied. "I believe I will let Commander Tucker fill you in on that when he awakes."
"Trip's here?" Archer asked, moving to sit up again and this time having more success than the last. He propped himself on the elbow of his uninjured arm and looked down the room, for the first time taking in the other sleeping forms, spread on the chairs and couches at the end of the room.
"And Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato," T'pol nodded confirmation. "Their shuttlepod crashed here during the night," Archer shot her a concerned look. "They suffered only minor injuries, but as I say I will let the Commander explain. You may have questions for him."
Archer rested back on the pillow and started to sort out his thoughts. The fact that most of the ships' bridge crew were stranded on the planet's surface did not bode well and the fact that the shuttlepod had crashed could only indicate some fairly powerful hostile forces acting against them. He did not have all of the facts yet but he was fairly sure that they had no chance of rescue. Whatever was going on, this was a situation that they were going to have to get themselves out of.
"I need to speak to Tetia," he eventually said. "We need to know everything that she can tell us if we are going to get out of this."
"I will see if I can find her," T'pol replied, standing. "Meanwhile you need to rest."
Both Tucker and Reed were fairly light sleepers, but they were exhausted from the events of the previous day so the movement in the room and quiet conversation did not wake them, until T'pol walked past and opened the door as she headed off to look for Tetia. Trip stirred first, rubbing his eyes and sitting up before attempting to stretch the kinks out of his muscles. Reed followed almost mimicking his moves as he shook himself awake and then stretched. It wasn't until he attempted to stretch his legs out that the matching movements stopped, as Reed winced in pain at moving the injured muscles. He sucked in a sharp breath.
Trip was up and over by his side at the audible gasp of pain. He looked around and spotted Phlox. "Doc over here," he called across the room as he took in his friend's still pained exprssion.
"I'm OK," Reed forced out, "just shouldn't have moved so quickly."
"Here let me look," Phlox said, arriving with his medical bag and kneeling by Reed's leg. As he carefully began to remove the dressing, he looked up at Trip. "You might want to go over and talk to the Captain, I believe he'd like to see you."
Trip looked at the doctor blankly for a moment, waiting for his freshly woken senses to consider all of the implications of the doctor's statement. "He's awake? He's going to be all right?" He asked.
Phlox nodded and then turned his attention back to the Lieutenant's leg.
Trip quickly covered the distance to the Captain's bed, stopping just short of it, he stood and watched for a moment, suddenly feeling awkward about his powerful emotions.
Archer turned to look at him and smiled. "Trip," he said, pleased, despite the situation, to see his friend.
Trip smiled back and stepped forward, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Jon, good to see you awake."
The two men smiled at each other for a moment longer, a wealth of emotion that they could never express to each other in words, but which was somehow understood, exchanged in the short silence. Then Archer's mind returned to the matters at hand. "So, would you mind telling me what's happening on my ship?"
By the time T'pol returned, accompanied by Tetia, Trip had explained the situation on Enterprise and had answered, where he could, the Captain's questions.
Tetia made her way straight over to the Captain, watched by the others in the room, the relief evident on her face. Trip stood as she approached "Captain Archer," she said, sitting next to the Captain in the position that Trip had just vacated. "I don't know if you remember our last meeting, but I am Tetia."
The Captain stared into her green eyes, they were not something that he could easily forget. "I remember," he looked down at her hands, "I'm just relieved that you don't have a weapon this time."
Tetia smiled. "I know that I do not need one," she replied. She turned to look at the assembled group. "I think it's about time I attempted to explain what is happening"