Mentem Mortalia Tangunt
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
*************************************************
Chapter 2
Archer had interrupted his talks with the Jorgans to come to sick bay and he wished that Phlox would just give him a straight answer. All he needed to know was what was wrong with Trip, surely that shouldn't have been so hard to answer. He had left T'Pol with their guests but it looked bad form for the Captain of the ship to leave a meeting to he second in command, even if she was a supremely efficient Vulcan. He was torn between his duty to return to the meeting and his duties as Trip's friend and commanding officer.
Lieutenant Reed had also made his way to Sick Bay and was now pacing just inside the entrance with his arms folded across his chest. Arched lent against a counter while Phlox took further scans of Trip behind the drawn curtains which surrounded the biobed Trip had been placed upon. He could just see Phlox through the gap in the curtains consulting the padd in his hand and looking up at the monitors above the biobed occasionally. A couple of times, he heard the soft hiss of a hypospray being administered. Eventually Phlox emerged.
"Well?" said Archer.
"Commander Tucker is still unconscious," said Phlox, "but I expect him to come round soon."
"Why is he unconscious?" asked Archer, his patience already being tried by the Denobulan.
"A foreign substance has found its way into the Commander's blood stream, it caused him to experience a temporary loss of consciousness," replied the doctor.
"I don't understand," said Lieutenant Reed who had been listening intently to the conversation so far. "A foreign substance? Are you saying that Commander Tucker has been poisoned?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying, Lieutenant," said Phlox.
"Poisoned? How?" said Archer in disbelief. His Chief Engineer had a way of getting himself into trouble but he hadn't even left the ship and here he was lying in sick bay. "Something in Engineering? A leak of some sort?"
"Perhaps, although the poison is organic. I can't tell you any more about its composition at this stage. From the way the substance entered his blood stream, I'd say it was in something that he ate, which judging from my scans is not very much today. That should help you narrow your search."
"He did say he hadn't had breakfast or lunch today," said Reed looking at the Captain. "He generally keeps himself going on that disgusting brew that passes for coffee in Engineering. And he had a glass of that Jorgan wine at the reception."
"I must talk to the Commander about his eating habits when he regains consciousness," said Phlox.
"Malcolm, I want you to find out how this happened. Talk to his staff and find out if any sort of cross contamination could possibly have happened," Archer said and Reed nodded.
"Yes, sir, I'll get on it right away," said Reed, he glanced at the biobed on which Trip still lay oblivious and headed towards the door.
"Oh, and Malcolm," added Archer, "make sure you get a sample of that Jorgan wine as well."
"But, sir, we all drank the wine," said Reed.
"I know," said Archer, "but let's cover all the possibilities."
Dr Phlox approached Archer and Reed with a tricorder, "I can't detect the toxin in your blood, whatever it is it only seems to be in Mr Tucker's system."
"At least it's not effecting all of us," said Archer.
"Finally, some good news," said Reed and with that he left sickbay.
There was a groan from the biobed that signalled Trip's return to consciousness. Phlox and Archer made their way over to the curtained off area. Trip was half sitting up and rubbing his head.
"How do you feel, Commander?" asked Phlox.
"Like I drank too much of that Jorgan wine," said Trip. "What happened?"
"You appear to have picked up a toxin somehow," replied Phlox. "We're not yet sure how the substance entered your system, but it was responsible for your losing consciousness. I am currently trying to ascertain what other effects it may be having upon you."
"Toxin?" said Trip, "what sort of toxin?"
"We don't know Trip," said Archer. "But I've asked Lieutenant Reed to find out as much as he can about how this happened."
"Am I going to be alright?" he asked in a worried tone, accentuating his southern drawl.
"I need to do some more analysis before I can answer that question," said Phlox. "I'd like you to stay here so that I can conduct some more tests."
"Look I'm feeling much better now, I'd rather get back to Engineering if it's all the same to you."
"I don't think that's wise, Commander, I have no idea how this toxin is going to affect you," said Phlox.
"Trip, I think you should stay here and let Dr Phlox do his tests," said Archer.
"But Captain." began Trip. He was thinking about the long task list which he had left undone in Engineering in order to attend the reception for the Jorgans. He'd assumed that he would be an hour at most at the reception and had planned to work for at least a few hours that evening in order to get everything done.
"Do you want me to make that an order?" Archer asked his Chief Engineer.
"No, sir," sighed Trip, defeated. He had been waiting for Archer to pull that card, but had hoped he'd gotten away with it this time. "Come on then Doc, do your worst," he added to Phlox lying back on the biobed.
"I doubt that I will be doing my worst, Commander. I wouldn't be a very good doctor if I didn't do my best for my patients," said Phlox.
"I'll check back later, Trip," said Archer.
"Yeah, whatever," said Trip, down-heartedly. Archer smiled his best conciliatory smile and headed off to find T'Pol.
****
Lieutenant Reed had begun his search for Trip's poison in Engineering but it had soon become clear that this was a dead end. He'd questioned Trip's staff. They had told him that the Commander had reported for work that morning and hadn't left Engineering all day, up until when he had to go to the Jorgan reception. Even then, Ensign Green told him that Trip had finished his modifications to the warp plasma injectors before he left, and that was why he had ended up being late for the party.
As for food, Ensign Green had gone for lunch with the some other crew members and remembered them asking if the Commander would like to join them. He had refused lunch but Ensign Conway had fetched him another cup of coffee. Ensign Conway thought that Trip had said it was his fifth of the day, but maybe that had been the day before. She'd noticed that he'd been drinking a lot of coffee lately and missing lunch breaks. However neither she nor Malcolm could think of anyway that something could have got into the Commander's coffee. If there was anything leaking in Engineering then they would have known about it by now. Besides they were always very careful not to drink or eat in the work area. Commander Tucker would have drunk his coffee in his office, and the cupboard which passed for Trip's office in Engineering certainly didn't have any dangerous chemicals in it, just a lot of paperwork waiting to be done.
A nasty idea was forming in the back of Lieutenant Reed's mind that he didn't like one bit, he hoped that he wasn't right. He headed back to the mess hall to get a sample of the Jorgan wine and try to talk to some of the people at the party. When he arrived there, the stewards were clearing away the debris of the party and he located a bottle of the wine before they could dispose of it. He would take it to Phlox and get him to analyse it, he could visit Trip while he was there too. No doubt his friend would require a bit of cheering up, Reed knew how much Trip hated being cooped up in Sick Bay from his experience after their enforced time together in the shuttle pod. Suddenly he had another thought, he went over to the table which the Commander had been standing beside. Luckily the clean up crew hadn't reached this corner of the room yet, the broken glass was still lying where it had fallen. Reed located a paper napkin and used it to carefully wrap up the largest shards of glass.
"Can I help you, sir," asked one of the crewmen on clean up detail.
"No thank you, crewman, I have everything I need," replied Reed and headed back down to sick bay.
****
Trip was beginning to feel like a pin cushion. The number of times Phlox had drawn blood made him wonder if he would have any blood left by the time the doctor was finished with him.
"Are you trying to drain me dry, Doc?" he asked plaintively.
"No, Commander Tucker, nothing of the sort. This is the last one for the moment," replied Phlox.
At that moment Lieutenant Reed came into sick bay. "Doctor, I wonder if I could ask you to help me. I need you to test this Jorgan wine and let me know whether it contains anything which could have caused the Commander to collapse."
"Hey, what you got there Malcolm," said Trip, drawing back the curtain around his bed. He jumped off the biobed and began to pull on the top half of his uniform.
"It's the wine from the reception, I thought I'd get the good doctor to analyse it," said Reed.
"Commander Tucker, I really must insist that you get back into bed," said Phlox.
"I feel fine Doc, give it a rest will ya," said Trip, just a little annoyed.
Phlox raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, instead he turned to Lieutenant Reed. "Right Lieutenant, let's look at that wine." Reed passed Phlox the bottle that he had collected and Phlox dripped some of the wine onto a slide and put it under the microscope. A collection of molecules appeared on the screen in shade of light green, revolving slowly. "Hmm, very interesting. Ethyl butyrate, anthranilate, damascenone, your basic fermented fruit juice. Very similar to Denobulan "firtan"."
"Firtan? Is that poisonous?" asked Lieutenant Reed looking at the screen.
"On the contrary, Lieutenant, it is quite pleasant, although best drunk in moderation, as with your own fermented grape juice," replied Phlox.
"So the wine's not poisonous?" said Trip, coming over to look at the screen.
"No, Commander, not of itself anyway. Although my tests will tell me if you had some sort of bad reaction to it, that your fellow humans did not," said Phlox in a matter of fact tone.
"I thought you checked it to make sure that it was human compatible," said Reed.
"Yes, I did, but human physiology is a slippery thing. Each human is an individual. Need I remind you of your various allergies, Lieutenant?" said Phlox.
"Point taken, Doctor, but are you saying this could be a simple allergy?" asked Reed.
"You mean it may not be a poison at all?" added Trip hopefully.
"Your reaction was not typical of an allergy, Commander, but the tests will tell us the answer to that question."
"There's something else I wanted you to have a look at," said Reed. He carefully unwrapped the napkin on the counter next to the microscope to reveal the broken pieces of glass.
"This was the Commander's glass?" asked Phlox.
"Yes, Doctor, I recovered it before the clean up crew had reached it," said Reed.
"If it wasn't the wine, how is the glass the wine was in going to help?" asked Trip.
"You don't have nearly enough of a suspicious mind, Commander," said Reed.
"That's what I have you for," replied Trip. Reed ignored Trip's comments and concentrated on the screen.
"There's not much to work with here, Lieutenant, but I'll do my best," said Phlox. He swabbed the glass carefully. "Ah, this is most interesting. Look here Lieutenant," he said pointing at the screen.
"What am I looking at?" said Reed.
"The wine in the glass Lieutenant, it has been contaminated with a substance that I am not familiar with, however I am fairly sure that it shouldn't be there," said the doctor.
"You're right Doctor. That definitely should not be there. The question is what is it and if that's the toxin, was it intentionally put there?" said Reed.
"I would say that is the most likely explanation, Lieutenant," said Phlox.
"Malcolm, you remember I arrived late to the party?" said Trip, suddenly looking concerned.
Reed nodded. "You were doing some upgrades on the warp plasma injectors, you told me."
"Captain Archer gave me his glass," said Trip, waiting for Reed to see it too.
Trip watched as the light of realisation dawned in Reed's eyes. "We'd better find the Captain right away," said Reed. Reed went to the intercom and got hold of Hoshi to find out where the Captain was.
"There is no "we" about it, Commander Tucker should not be leaving sick bay."
"Look you've taken all the blood you need, you're running the tests, you don't need me any more." Just as the doctor was about to protest Trip added "I promise the first sign of anything I'll come straight back here."
Phlox knew when he was fighting a loosing battle and it might do the Commander some good to take his mind off his problems for a little while. "Very well Commander Tucker, but I want you to report back here at 2200, by then I should have the test results."
"The Captain's in his private dining room with T'Pol," said Reed having finished speaking to Hoshi. "Come on Trip, let's go and break the news to him." Trip didn't need a second invitation.
****
The Jorgans had been taken for a tour of the ship by a couple of enthusiastic Ensigns. Captain Archer was mulling over the information the Jorgans had given them, which didn't really amount to much. Apparently some time in the past the Jorgans had been at war with the Xindi, although the Jorgans missed out some details which Archer would like to have known. Like who'd started the war in the first place. The Jorgans certainly seemed bitter about the whole episode though, after telling Archer and T'Pol about the atrocities that the Xindi had committed on Jorga, Archer had decided that they all needed a break and had suggested the tour of the ship.
"You seem to be in deep thought, Captain. Do you not believe what the Jorgans told us?" asked T'Pol.
"Something doesn't feel right, T'Pol. I just can't put my finger on what it is," replied Archer.
"Indeed, there would seem to be no reason to doubt the Jorgans given our past experience with the Xindi. Nor have they shown hostility towards Enterprise in any way," said T'Pol.
"And you don't think Trip collapsing at the party has anything to do with them?" asked Archer.
"The Commander has been under considerable strain lately. Until Dr Phlox has completed his report on the incident I am unwilling to draw any conclusion," replied T'Pol with her usual Vulcan calmness, her hand clasped behind her back. Although she too felt there were some inconsistencies in the Jorgan's story, her role was to look at the situation logically rather than emotionally. It worried her slightly that when she heard that Commander Tucker had been taken to Sick Bay she had had to suppress a series of unwanted emotions that had unexpectedly assailed her. That had been extremely illogical.
However, at that moment Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker entered the dining room.
"Trip! I thought Phlox told you to stay in sick bay," said Archer, about to give him a dressing down for disobeying the doctor.
"He gave me a reprieve, mainly because of what Malcolm and I found," said Trip.
"We think that the glass containing the wine that the Commander drank had some sort of toxin on it before the wine was poured into it," said Reed. "That's why it hasn't affected any of the rest of us. There's just one problem."
"What's that, Malcolm?" asked Archer.
"Captain, I was late so I didn't get time to pick up a glass and you gave me yours," said Trip.
"The Captain was the intended victim," said T'Pol seeing the connection before Archer got to it.
Archer felt a sudden pang of guilt. They'd been after him but Trip had been the one to be poisoned. "Did the doctor say anything new Trip?" he asked, hoping that Trip would say it was all a false alarm.
"He said he'd have the test results by 2200. He'll know more then. Does anyone else think that it's too hot in here?" he asked, pulling at the collar of his uniform. Malcolm standing behind him exchanged a worried glance with Archer. Trip noticed them. "Hey, what was that for? Isn't a guy allowed to be a bit warm?"
"The temperature is at normal levels, Commander," said T'Pol.
"I'm sure it is if you're a Vulcan! Damn desert planets. If anyone wants me I'll be in Engineering until 2200," said Trip and stormed off.
When Trip had left, Archer turned to Reed. "Malcolm, we need to have a talk with Captain Milas about the crewmen he asked to be stewards at the party. And I want to be there when Phlox gives Trip the results of those tests."
"The Commander may not find the presence of his Captain acceptable," said T'Pol. "From my experience humans can be quite." she paused searching for the right word in her English vocabulary, she knew the exact word in Vulcan but the human translation was very imprecise, "private about their physical malfunctions."
"As can Vulcans, Sub-Commander," replied Archer.
"Indeed, Captain," replied the Vulcan, without any sign that she saw the irony of her earlier comment.
"In any case, this isn't just about Trip, this was an attack on one of my crew and I don't want it to happen again," said Archer. "Malcolm, find Captain Milas and bring him to my ready room."
"Yes, sir," said Reed and went to find the tour party.
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
*************************************************
Chapter 2
Archer had interrupted his talks with the Jorgans to come to sick bay and he wished that Phlox would just give him a straight answer. All he needed to know was what was wrong with Trip, surely that shouldn't have been so hard to answer. He had left T'Pol with their guests but it looked bad form for the Captain of the ship to leave a meeting to he second in command, even if she was a supremely efficient Vulcan. He was torn between his duty to return to the meeting and his duties as Trip's friend and commanding officer.
Lieutenant Reed had also made his way to Sick Bay and was now pacing just inside the entrance with his arms folded across his chest. Arched lent against a counter while Phlox took further scans of Trip behind the drawn curtains which surrounded the biobed Trip had been placed upon. He could just see Phlox through the gap in the curtains consulting the padd in his hand and looking up at the monitors above the biobed occasionally. A couple of times, he heard the soft hiss of a hypospray being administered. Eventually Phlox emerged.
"Well?" said Archer.
"Commander Tucker is still unconscious," said Phlox, "but I expect him to come round soon."
"Why is he unconscious?" asked Archer, his patience already being tried by the Denobulan.
"A foreign substance has found its way into the Commander's blood stream, it caused him to experience a temporary loss of consciousness," replied the doctor.
"I don't understand," said Lieutenant Reed who had been listening intently to the conversation so far. "A foreign substance? Are you saying that Commander Tucker has been poisoned?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying, Lieutenant," said Phlox.
"Poisoned? How?" said Archer in disbelief. His Chief Engineer had a way of getting himself into trouble but he hadn't even left the ship and here he was lying in sick bay. "Something in Engineering? A leak of some sort?"
"Perhaps, although the poison is organic. I can't tell you any more about its composition at this stage. From the way the substance entered his blood stream, I'd say it was in something that he ate, which judging from my scans is not very much today. That should help you narrow your search."
"He did say he hadn't had breakfast or lunch today," said Reed looking at the Captain. "He generally keeps himself going on that disgusting brew that passes for coffee in Engineering. And he had a glass of that Jorgan wine at the reception."
"I must talk to the Commander about his eating habits when he regains consciousness," said Phlox.
"Malcolm, I want you to find out how this happened. Talk to his staff and find out if any sort of cross contamination could possibly have happened," Archer said and Reed nodded.
"Yes, sir, I'll get on it right away," said Reed, he glanced at the biobed on which Trip still lay oblivious and headed towards the door.
"Oh, and Malcolm," added Archer, "make sure you get a sample of that Jorgan wine as well."
"But, sir, we all drank the wine," said Reed.
"I know," said Archer, "but let's cover all the possibilities."
Dr Phlox approached Archer and Reed with a tricorder, "I can't detect the toxin in your blood, whatever it is it only seems to be in Mr Tucker's system."
"At least it's not effecting all of us," said Archer.
"Finally, some good news," said Reed and with that he left sickbay.
There was a groan from the biobed that signalled Trip's return to consciousness. Phlox and Archer made their way over to the curtained off area. Trip was half sitting up and rubbing his head.
"How do you feel, Commander?" asked Phlox.
"Like I drank too much of that Jorgan wine," said Trip. "What happened?"
"You appear to have picked up a toxin somehow," replied Phlox. "We're not yet sure how the substance entered your system, but it was responsible for your losing consciousness. I am currently trying to ascertain what other effects it may be having upon you."
"Toxin?" said Trip, "what sort of toxin?"
"We don't know Trip," said Archer. "But I've asked Lieutenant Reed to find out as much as he can about how this happened."
"Am I going to be alright?" he asked in a worried tone, accentuating his southern drawl.
"I need to do some more analysis before I can answer that question," said Phlox. "I'd like you to stay here so that I can conduct some more tests."
"Look I'm feeling much better now, I'd rather get back to Engineering if it's all the same to you."
"I don't think that's wise, Commander, I have no idea how this toxin is going to affect you," said Phlox.
"Trip, I think you should stay here and let Dr Phlox do his tests," said Archer.
"But Captain." began Trip. He was thinking about the long task list which he had left undone in Engineering in order to attend the reception for the Jorgans. He'd assumed that he would be an hour at most at the reception and had planned to work for at least a few hours that evening in order to get everything done.
"Do you want me to make that an order?" Archer asked his Chief Engineer.
"No, sir," sighed Trip, defeated. He had been waiting for Archer to pull that card, but had hoped he'd gotten away with it this time. "Come on then Doc, do your worst," he added to Phlox lying back on the biobed.
"I doubt that I will be doing my worst, Commander. I wouldn't be a very good doctor if I didn't do my best for my patients," said Phlox.
"I'll check back later, Trip," said Archer.
"Yeah, whatever," said Trip, down-heartedly. Archer smiled his best conciliatory smile and headed off to find T'Pol.
****
Lieutenant Reed had begun his search for Trip's poison in Engineering but it had soon become clear that this was a dead end. He'd questioned Trip's staff. They had told him that the Commander had reported for work that morning and hadn't left Engineering all day, up until when he had to go to the Jorgan reception. Even then, Ensign Green told him that Trip had finished his modifications to the warp plasma injectors before he left, and that was why he had ended up being late for the party.
As for food, Ensign Green had gone for lunch with the some other crew members and remembered them asking if the Commander would like to join them. He had refused lunch but Ensign Conway had fetched him another cup of coffee. Ensign Conway thought that Trip had said it was his fifth of the day, but maybe that had been the day before. She'd noticed that he'd been drinking a lot of coffee lately and missing lunch breaks. However neither she nor Malcolm could think of anyway that something could have got into the Commander's coffee. If there was anything leaking in Engineering then they would have known about it by now. Besides they were always very careful not to drink or eat in the work area. Commander Tucker would have drunk his coffee in his office, and the cupboard which passed for Trip's office in Engineering certainly didn't have any dangerous chemicals in it, just a lot of paperwork waiting to be done.
A nasty idea was forming in the back of Lieutenant Reed's mind that he didn't like one bit, he hoped that he wasn't right. He headed back to the mess hall to get a sample of the Jorgan wine and try to talk to some of the people at the party. When he arrived there, the stewards were clearing away the debris of the party and he located a bottle of the wine before they could dispose of it. He would take it to Phlox and get him to analyse it, he could visit Trip while he was there too. No doubt his friend would require a bit of cheering up, Reed knew how much Trip hated being cooped up in Sick Bay from his experience after their enforced time together in the shuttle pod. Suddenly he had another thought, he went over to the table which the Commander had been standing beside. Luckily the clean up crew hadn't reached this corner of the room yet, the broken glass was still lying where it had fallen. Reed located a paper napkin and used it to carefully wrap up the largest shards of glass.
"Can I help you, sir," asked one of the crewmen on clean up detail.
"No thank you, crewman, I have everything I need," replied Reed and headed back down to sick bay.
****
Trip was beginning to feel like a pin cushion. The number of times Phlox had drawn blood made him wonder if he would have any blood left by the time the doctor was finished with him.
"Are you trying to drain me dry, Doc?" he asked plaintively.
"No, Commander Tucker, nothing of the sort. This is the last one for the moment," replied Phlox.
At that moment Lieutenant Reed came into sick bay. "Doctor, I wonder if I could ask you to help me. I need you to test this Jorgan wine and let me know whether it contains anything which could have caused the Commander to collapse."
"Hey, what you got there Malcolm," said Trip, drawing back the curtain around his bed. He jumped off the biobed and began to pull on the top half of his uniform.
"It's the wine from the reception, I thought I'd get the good doctor to analyse it," said Reed.
"Commander Tucker, I really must insist that you get back into bed," said Phlox.
"I feel fine Doc, give it a rest will ya," said Trip, just a little annoyed.
Phlox raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, instead he turned to Lieutenant Reed. "Right Lieutenant, let's look at that wine." Reed passed Phlox the bottle that he had collected and Phlox dripped some of the wine onto a slide and put it under the microscope. A collection of molecules appeared on the screen in shade of light green, revolving slowly. "Hmm, very interesting. Ethyl butyrate, anthranilate, damascenone, your basic fermented fruit juice. Very similar to Denobulan "firtan"."
"Firtan? Is that poisonous?" asked Lieutenant Reed looking at the screen.
"On the contrary, Lieutenant, it is quite pleasant, although best drunk in moderation, as with your own fermented grape juice," replied Phlox.
"So the wine's not poisonous?" said Trip, coming over to look at the screen.
"No, Commander, not of itself anyway. Although my tests will tell me if you had some sort of bad reaction to it, that your fellow humans did not," said Phlox in a matter of fact tone.
"I thought you checked it to make sure that it was human compatible," said Reed.
"Yes, I did, but human physiology is a slippery thing. Each human is an individual. Need I remind you of your various allergies, Lieutenant?" said Phlox.
"Point taken, Doctor, but are you saying this could be a simple allergy?" asked Reed.
"You mean it may not be a poison at all?" added Trip hopefully.
"Your reaction was not typical of an allergy, Commander, but the tests will tell us the answer to that question."
"There's something else I wanted you to have a look at," said Reed. He carefully unwrapped the napkin on the counter next to the microscope to reveal the broken pieces of glass.
"This was the Commander's glass?" asked Phlox.
"Yes, Doctor, I recovered it before the clean up crew had reached it," said Reed.
"If it wasn't the wine, how is the glass the wine was in going to help?" asked Trip.
"You don't have nearly enough of a suspicious mind, Commander," said Reed.
"That's what I have you for," replied Trip. Reed ignored Trip's comments and concentrated on the screen.
"There's not much to work with here, Lieutenant, but I'll do my best," said Phlox. He swabbed the glass carefully. "Ah, this is most interesting. Look here Lieutenant," he said pointing at the screen.
"What am I looking at?" said Reed.
"The wine in the glass Lieutenant, it has been contaminated with a substance that I am not familiar with, however I am fairly sure that it shouldn't be there," said the doctor.
"You're right Doctor. That definitely should not be there. The question is what is it and if that's the toxin, was it intentionally put there?" said Reed.
"I would say that is the most likely explanation, Lieutenant," said Phlox.
"Malcolm, you remember I arrived late to the party?" said Trip, suddenly looking concerned.
Reed nodded. "You were doing some upgrades on the warp plasma injectors, you told me."
"Captain Archer gave me his glass," said Trip, waiting for Reed to see it too.
Trip watched as the light of realisation dawned in Reed's eyes. "We'd better find the Captain right away," said Reed. Reed went to the intercom and got hold of Hoshi to find out where the Captain was.
"There is no "we" about it, Commander Tucker should not be leaving sick bay."
"Look you've taken all the blood you need, you're running the tests, you don't need me any more." Just as the doctor was about to protest Trip added "I promise the first sign of anything I'll come straight back here."
Phlox knew when he was fighting a loosing battle and it might do the Commander some good to take his mind off his problems for a little while. "Very well Commander Tucker, but I want you to report back here at 2200, by then I should have the test results."
"The Captain's in his private dining room with T'Pol," said Reed having finished speaking to Hoshi. "Come on Trip, let's go and break the news to him." Trip didn't need a second invitation.
****
The Jorgans had been taken for a tour of the ship by a couple of enthusiastic Ensigns. Captain Archer was mulling over the information the Jorgans had given them, which didn't really amount to much. Apparently some time in the past the Jorgans had been at war with the Xindi, although the Jorgans missed out some details which Archer would like to have known. Like who'd started the war in the first place. The Jorgans certainly seemed bitter about the whole episode though, after telling Archer and T'Pol about the atrocities that the Xindi had committed on Jorga, Archer had decided that they all needed a break and had suggested the tour of the ship.
"You seem to be in deep thought, Captain. Do you not believe what the Jorgans told us?" asked T'Pol.
"Something doesn't feel right, T'Pol. I just can't put my finger on what it is," replied Archer.
"Indeed, there would seem to be no reason to doubt the Jorgans given our past experience with the Xindi. Nor have they shown hostility towards Enterprise in any way," said T'Pol.
"And you don't think Trip collapsing at the party has anything to do with them?" asked Archer.
"The Commander has been under considerable strain lately. Until Dr Phlox has completed his report on the incident I am unwilling to draw any conclusion," replied T'Pol with her usual Vulcan calmness, her hand clasped behind her back. Although she too felt there were some inconsistencies in the Jorgan's story, her role was to look at the situation logically rather than emotionally. It worried her slightly that when she heard that Commander Tucker had been taken to Sick Bay she had had to suppress a series of unwanted emotions that had unexpectedly assailed her. That had been extremely illogical.
However, at that moment Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker entered the dining room.
"Trip! I thought Phlox told you to stay in sick bay," said Archer, about to give him a dressing down for disobeying the doctor.
"He gave me a reprieve, mainly because of what Malcolm and I found," said Trip.
"We think that the glass containing the wine that the Commander drank had some sort of toxin on it before the wine was poured into it," said Reed. "That's why it hasn't affected any of the rest of us. There's just one problem."
"What's that, Malcolm?" asked Archer.
"Captain, I was late so I didn't get time to pick up a glass and you gave me yours," said Trip.
"The Captain was the intended victim," said T'Pol seeing the connection before Archer got to it.
Archer felt a sudden pang of guilt. They'd been after him but Trip had been the one to be poisoned. "Did the doctor say anything new Trip?" he asked, hoping that Trip would say it was all a false alarm.
"He said he'd have the test results by 2200. He'll know more then. Does anyone else think that it's too hot in here?" he asked, pulling at the collar of his uniform. Malcolm standing behind him exchanged a worried glance with Archer. Trip noticed them. "Hey, what was that for? Isn't a guy allowed to be a bit warm?"
"The temperature is at normal levels, Commander," said T'Pol.
"I'm sure it is if you're a Vulcan! Damn desert planets. If anyone wants me I'll be in Engineering until 2200," said Trip and stormed off.
When Trip had left, Archer turned to Reed. "Malcolm, we need to have a talk with Captain Milas about the crewmen he asked to be stewards at the party. And I want to be there when Phlox gives Trip the results of those tests."
"The Commander may not find the presence of his Captain acceptable," said T'Pol. "From my experience humans can be quite." she paused searching for the right word in her English vocabulary, she knew the exact word in Vulcan but the human translation was very imprecise, "private about their physical malfunctions."
"As can Vulcans, Sub-Commander," replied Archer.
"Indeed, Captain," replied the Vulcan, without any sign that she saw the irony of her earlier comment.
"In any case, this isn't just about Trip, this was an attack on one of my crew and I don't want it to happen again," said Archer. "Malcolm, find Captain Milas and bring him to my ready room."
"Yes, sir," said Reed and went to find the tour party.