Mentem Mortalia Tangunt
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
*************************************************
Chapter 4
Down in Engineering Trip hoped that the Captain hadn't picked up that he was trying to hide the fact that he had just burnt himself on an open relay. He hadn't even noticed that he hadn't closed the panel. His head just felt fuzzy, his eyes were getting worse and his hands were shaking. Engineering was in chaos, there was so much to be done and Trip certainly didn't feel up to pulling a double shift today, but he knew that's what it would take to get the ship back to even a basic level of readiness.
He had already delegated more than he wanted to Lieutenant Hess and his other officers but even he knew he couldn't handle his usual work load. The Engineering staff knew something was wrong but so far no one had dared to ask him what yet.
Five hours later, after crawling through jeffries tubes to fix the internal sensors, he was getting worse and he knew it. He ached all over and he'd dropped tools several times now. He went to see Phlox in the hope that he could help him enough to get him through this one crisis.
When he arrived in sick bay he was greeted by the sight of T'Pol buried in her research. She looked up to see Trip leaning on the doorway to sick bay.
"Commander?" she asked. "You do not look well."
"Why is it that Vulcans always have to state the obvious?" he asked.
"It was simply for your information, Commander," she replied, but went to his side and helped him to sit down on one of the biobeds. Trip seemed to be in considerable pain. "You should have come to sick bay sooner, Commander. It was illogical for you to wait this long."
"I didn't know that you cared, T'Pol," said Trip.
"The efficiency of this crew is of primary importance to the mission," replied T'Pol, but even she herself found that it was not her only reason for her attention to the Commander. She had spent considerable amounts of time with the Commander while she had been teaching him Vulcan neuropressure and during that time had realised that he was important to her. She didn't know when this had happened but she had grown close to the Commander and would now consider him to be her friend. She went to get Dr Phlox.
Phlox emerged from his office with T'Pol a couple of seconds later. "Commander, how do you feel?"
"Not so good, Doc," said Trip.
Phlox discussed exactly what levels of pain Trip was experiencing and his other symptoms. He filled two hyposprays and injected them into the Commander. "Give that a minute or so and they should start to work, Commander," said Phlox. "Just lie down while it takes effect."
Trip nodded and lay back on the biobed. He waited and slowly his vision started to clear and the pain faded to a bearable level. He couldn't quite believe how much better he felt, he still knew that he was sick but compared to how he felt before it was a huge improvement. He carefully sat up, still taking a mental inventory of his aches but he didn't feel any worse for being upright. "Hey, this is great, what did you give me?" asked Trip.
"The first hypo was a strong painkiller, the second one was to stabilise your motor functions. I'm afraid both are only temporary and will wear off in a few hours. I can't give you anything stronger without knocking you out," said Phlox.
"This'll do fine, Doc," said Trip jumping off the biobed and headed for the exit.
"Commander, come back in three hours and I'll repeat the procedure," said Phlox.
"Thanks Doc," replied Trip and left Sick Bay.
On the way back to Engineering, Trip made a detour to his quarters. He sat down at his desk and pulled up a document on his screen. He scrolled through it, found the part he was looking for and started to dictate to the computer some lines to add. It took a little while but eventually he was happy with the result. He transferred it to a padd and was about to leave again for Engineering when the door buzzer sounded.
"Come in," he shouted.
Archer opened the door and came in. "I stopped by Engineering and they said you were taking a break." Archer had also stopped by Sick Bay where Phlox had told him Trip had come in to get some medication and T'Pol had updated him on their lack of progress finding the antidote. Archer appreciated T'Pol taking care of this personally, she would have been well within her rights to have assigned one of her deputies to the analysis.
"I just had some personal business to finish up," said Trip and handed Archer the padd. "I'd appreciate it, Jon, if you'd take care of this for me."
Archer looked at the padd Trip had handed him. It was entitled "Last Will and Testament."
"I'd like you to be my executor," said Trip. "Everything goes to my parents, apart from a few things for my friends on Enterprise." His mortality had caught up with him rather faster than he had expected it to and he hadn't updated the will since he'd been assigned to Enterprise. He really hadn't expected to be needing the document this soon, although it had always been a possibility as soon as he stepped onto Enterprise.
"I'd be honoured to be your executor, Trip," said Archer. "But I'm sure Phlox will come up with something soon."
"I think you and I both know that isn't going to happen, Captain. I admit that I'd always hoped that I'd die old and in bed, after a long, full life playing with Enterprise's engines, but that just isn't the way it's going to be," said Trip.
"I'm sorry, Trip," said Archer.
"What have you got to be sorry about?" he asked his friend. "This is the life I chose. Seeing new planets and people, being the Chief Engineer of Starfleet's first warp five starship, I couldn't have asked for more really."
"But that glass of wine was meant to be for me," said Archer.
"Yeah, but it's not as if you knew it was poisoned when you handed me the glass," said Trip.
"I know, but I still feel responsible," said Archer.
"You had nothing to do with it, Jon, it's just bad luck," said Trip. "Imagine what would have happened if it had been you that had drunk that wine. Enterprise would now be in complete chaos without its Captain and whoever did this would have accomplished their mission. Enterprise can do without its Chief Engineer, I'm just a grease monkey, anyone can do my job."
"That's not true, Trip. Enterprise needs you as much as it needs me," said Archer and looked down at the padd, something caught his eye as he read. "You want to give T'Pol your harmonica?" he asked incredulously.
"She has this beautiful Vulcan harp in her quarters. She played it for me once. She's the most musical person I know, I think she might appreciate the harmonica," said Trip quietly, as if he'd just shared a very private part of himself.
"And you want Lieutenant Reed to have your Go set?" asked Archer.
"He needs the practice. He hasn't managed to beat me at it yet," replied Trip. Even in a situation like this Archer noticed that his Chief Engineer still had a sense of humour. "Besides he's our Tactical Officer, if anyone can understand Go then I guess it will be him."
Archer nodded, Trip had been thoughtful as ever. He had left something each for Hoshi, Travis, Phlox, Lieutenant Hess, and the last item on the list was for Archer. Everyone had something that they had commented on or was appropriate for them. Hoshi had been left Trip's "Art of War" by Sun Tzu, it was in its original Chinese, more of a curiosity for Trip considering he didn't understand the language, but special to him none the less, it was required reading (in translation) at the Academy. Travis had been given Trip's model of Enterprise, it was the scale model he had built from the original schematics and was one of his most prized possessions.
Archer had been left a picture which one of Trip's friends had taken of the two of them standing outside the hangar of the first warp three starship commissioned by Starfleet. Trip had framed it and put it on his wall the day he arrived on Enterprise. Archer didn't know what to say as he read the list, but he felt the emotion rising in him as he read and desperately blinked back tears. The last thing Trip needed now was to see the pain that his illness was causing his commanding officer.
"I had a lot of trouble trying to think what I should give everyone," said Trip.
"This is very thoughtful," said Archer, his voice wavering but he pulled himself back from the tears he knew he wanted to cry.
"I'm not going to be needing it," replied Trip. He paused and then added, "I've got to get back to Engineering." He took two steps towards the door, stumbled and fell.
"Trip!" shouted Archer as he moved towards him.
Trip was winded but tried to pick himself up off the floor, however his arms and legs just wouldn't co-operate. "I thought Phlox said at least three hours before the drugs wore off," said Trip, trying to pretend that he wasn't lying on the floor.
"Just hold on, Trip," said Archer, "I'll get Phlox."
"Oh god it hurts," whispered Trip. He curled up in pain. He felt Archer checking his pulse and then he saw him go to the intercom before the dark edges around his vision became all that he saw and he passed out.
****
Lieutenant Reed and his security staff had been rounding up the Jorgans who were visiting Enterprise. They were all accounted for, apart from one, a Jorgan called Mentan.
"Reed to Archer," he said into the com.
"Yes, Malcolm," replied Archer after a few seconds.
"I think we know who our saboteur is," said Reed. "I've located all the Jorgans apart from one. He's one of their Engineering staff, a Jorgan called Mentan. He would have been quite capable of working out where to plant the explosives," said Reed. "With your permission, sir, I'd like to start a ship wide search for him."
"Permission granted, Lieutenant. Take all the men you need, I want that Jorgan found. And alive if possible," said Archer.
"Yes, sir. I have some questions that I'd like to ask him," replied Reed, "especially regarding the Jorgan wine served at the reception."
"Okay, keep me informed, I'll be in Sick Bay if you need me," said Archer.
"Sick Bay? Commander Tucker? Trip?" he asked.
"He collapsed again, he's still unconscious. Phlox is examining him now," said Archer. "Its not looking good, Malcolm. I've just told the staff in Engineering that Trip is seriously ill, and won't be coming back to duty. Lieutenant Hess has been promoted to Acting Chief Engineer. She wasn't happy, but she understood."
"She's a good officer," said Reed.
"There's one other thing, Malcolm. Let people know discreetly that if they want to visit the Commander then they had better come soon."
"Yes, sir," said Reed. "Reed out." Reed didn't like his Captain's tone one bit. He certainly didn't look forward to telling Trip's friends that the Commander was most likely not going to be around much longer and that if they wanted to say goodbye then now was the time to do it.
****
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
*************************************************
Chapter 4
Down in Engineering Trip hoped that the Captain hadn't picked up that he was trying to hide the fact that he had just burnt himself on an open relay. He hadn't even noticed that he hadn't closed the panel. His head just felt fuzzy, his eyes were getting worse and his hands were shaking. Engineering was in chaos, there was so much to be done and Trip certainly didn't feel up to pulling a double shift today, but he knew that's what it would take to get the ship back to even a basic level of readiness.
He had already delegated more than he wanted to Lieutenant Hess and his other officers but even he knew he couldn't handle his usual work load. The Engineering staff knew something was wrong but so far no one had dared to ask him what yet.
Five hours later, after crawling through jeffries tubes to fix the internal sensors, he was getting worse and he knew it. He ached all over and he'd dropped tools several times now. He went to see Phlox in the hope that he could help him enough to get him through this one crisis.
When he arrived in sick bay he was greeted by the sight of T'Pol buried in her research. She looked up to see Trip leaning on the doorway to sick bay.
"Commander?" she asked. "You do not look well."
"Why is it that Vulcans always have to state the obvious?" he asked.
"It was simply for your information, Commander," she replied, but went to his side and helped him to sit down on one of the biobeds. Trip seemed to be in considerable pain. "You should have come to sick bay sooner, Commander. It was illogical for you to wait this long."
"I didn't know that you cared, T'Pol," said Trip.
"The efficiency of this crew is of primary importance to the mission," replied T'Pol, but even she herself found that it was not her only reason for her attention to the Commander. She had spent considerable amounts of time with the Commander while she had been teaching him Vulcan neuropressure and during that time had realised that he was important to her. She didn't know when this had happened but she had grown close to the Commander and would now consider him to be her friend. She went to get Dr Phlox.
Phlox emerged from his office with T'Pol a couple of seconds later. "Commander, how do you feel?"
"Not so good, Doc," said Trip.
Phlox discussed exactly what levels of pain Trip was experiencing and his other symptoms. He filled two hyposprays and injected them into the Commander. "Give that a minute or so and they should start to work, Commander," said Phlox. "Just lie down while it takes effect."
Trip nodded and lay back on the biobed. He waited and slowly his vision started to clear and the pain faded to a bearable level. He couldn't quite believe how much better he felt, he still knew that he was sick but compared to how he felt before it was a huge improvement. He carefully sat up, still taking a mental inventory of his aches but he didn't feel any worse for being upright. "Hey, this is great, what did you give me?" asked Trip.
"The first hypo was a strong painkiller, the second one was to stabilise your motor functions. I'm afraid both are only temporary and will wear off in a few hours. I can't give you anything stronger without knocking you out," said Phlox.
"This'll do fine, Doc," said Trip jumping off the biobed and headed for the exit.
"Commander, come back in three hours and I'll repeat the procedure," said Phlox.
"Thanks Doc," replied Trip and left Sick Bay.
On the way back to Engineering, Trip made a detour to his quarters. He sat down at his desk and pulled up a document on his screen. He scrolled through it, found the part he was looking for and started to dictate to the computer some lines to add. It took a little while but eventually he was happy with the result. He transferred it to a padd and was about to leave again for Engineering when the door buzzer sounded.
"Come in," he shouted.
Archer opened the door and came in. "I stopped by Engineering and they said you were taking a break." Archer had also stopped by Sick Bay where Phlox had told him Trip had come in to get some medication and T'Pol had updated him on their lack of progress finding the antidote. Archer appreciated T'Pol taking care of this personally, she would have been well within her rights to have assigned one of her deputies to the analysis.
"I just had some personal business to finish up," said Trip and handed Archer the padd. "I'd appreciate it, Jon, if you'd take care of this for me."
Archer looked at the padd Trip had handed him. It was entitled "Last Will and Testament."
"I'd like you to be my executor," said Trip. "Everything goes to my parents, apart from a few things for my friends on Enterprise." His mortality had caught up with him rather faster than he had expected it to and he hadn't updated the will since he'd been assigned to Enterprise. He really hadn't expected to be needing the document this soon, although it had always been a possibility as soon as he stepped onto Enterprise.
"I'd be honoured to be your executor, Trip," said Archer. "But I'm sure Phlox will come up with something soon."
"I think you and I both know that isn't going to happen, Captain. I admit that I'd always hoped that I'd die old and in bed, after a long, full life playing with Enterprise's engines, but that just isn't the way it's going to be," said Trip.
"I'm sorry, Trip," said Archer.
"What have you got to be sorry about?" he asked his friend. "This is the life I chose. Seeing new planets and people, being the Chief Engineer of Starfleet's first warp five starship, I couldn't have asked for more really."
"But that glass of wine was meant to be for me," said Archer.
"Yeah, but it's not as if you knew it was poisoned when you handed me the glass," said Trip.
"I know, but I still feel responsible," said Archer.
"You had nothing to do with it, Jon, it's just bad luck," said Trip. "Imagine what would have happened if it had been you that had drunk that wine. Enterprise would now be in complete chaos without its Captain and whoever did this would have accomplished their mission. Enterprise can do without its Chief Engineer, I'm just a grease monkey, anyone can do my job."
"That's not true, Trip. Enterprise needs you as much as it needs me," said Archer and looked down at the padd, something caught his eye as he read. "You want to give T'Pol your harmonica?" he asked incredulously.
"She has this beautiful Vulcan harp in her quarters. She played it for me once. She's the most musical person I know, I think she might appreciate the harmonica," said Trip quietly, as if he'd just shared a very private part of himself.
"And you want Lieutenant Reed to have your Go set?" asked Archer.
"He needs the practice. He hasn't managed to beat me at it yet," replied Trip. Even in a situation like this Archer noticed that his Chief Engineer still had a sense of humour. "Besides he's our Tactical Officer, if anyone can understand Go then I guess it will be him."
Archer nodded, Trip had been thoughtful as ever. He had left something each for Hoshi, Travis, Phlox, Lieutenant Hess, and the last item on the list was for Archer. Everyone had something that they had commented on or was appropriate for them. Hoshi had been left Trip's "Art of War" by Sun Tzu, it was in its original Chinese, more of a curiosity for Trip considering he didn't understand the language, but special to him none the less, it was required reading (in translation) at the Academy. Travis had been given Trip's model of Enterprise, it was the scale model he had built from the original schematics and was one of his most prized possessions.
Archer had been left a picture which one of Trip's friends had taken of the two of them standing outside the hangar of the first warp three starship commissioned by Starfleet. Trip had framed it and put it on his wall the day he arrived on Enterprise. Archer didn't know what to say as he read the list, but he felt the emotion rising in him as he read and desperately blinked back tears. The last thing Trip needed now was to see the pain that his illness was causing his commanding officer.
"I had a lot of trouble trying to think what I should give everyone," said Trip.
"This is very thoughtful," said Archer, his voice wavering but he pulled himself back from the tears he knew he wanted to cry.
"I'm not going to be needing it," replied Trip. He paused and then added, "I've got to get back to Engineering." He took two steps towards the door, stumbled and fell.
"Trip!" shouted Archer as he moved towards him.
Trip was winded but tried to pick himself up off the floor, however his arms and legs just wouldn't co-operate. "I thought Phlox said at least three hours before the drugs wore off," said Trip, trying to pretend that he wasn't lying on the floor.
"Just hold on, Trip," said Archer, "I'll get Phlox."
"Oh god it hurts," whispered Trip. He curled up in pain. He felt Archer checking his pulse and then he saw him go to the intercom before the dark edges around his vision became all that he saw and he passed out.
****
Lieutenant Reed and his security staff had been rounding up the Jorgans who were visiting Enterprise. They were all accounted for, apart from one, a Jorgan called Mentan.
"Reed to Archer," he said into the com.
"Yes, Malcolm," replied Archer after a few seconds.
"I think we know who our saboteur is," said Reed. "I've located all the Jorgans apart from one. He's one of their Engineering staff, a Jorgan called Mentan. He would have been quite capable of working out where to plant the explosives," said Reed. "With your permission, sir, I'd like to start a ship wide search for him."
"Permission granted, Lieutenant. Take all the men you need, I want that Jorgan found. And alive if possible," said Archer.
"Yes, sir. I have some questions that I'd like to ask him," replied Reed, "especially regarding the Jorgan wine served at the reception."
"Okay, keep me informed, I'll be in Sick Bay if you need me," said Archer.
"Sick Bay? Commander Tucker? Trip?" he asked.
"He collapsed again, he's still unconscious. Phlox is examining him now," said Archer. "Its not looking good, Malcolm. I've just told the staff in Engineering that Trip is seriously ill, and won't be coming back to duty. Lieutenant Hess has been promoted to Acting Chief Engineer. She wasn't happy, but she understood."
"She's a good officer," said Reed.
"There's one other thing, Malcolm. Let people know discreetly that if they want to visit the Commander then they had better come soon."
"Yes, sir," said Reed. "Reed out." Reed didn't like his Captain's tone one bit. He certainly didn't look forward to telling Trip's friends that the Commander was most likely not going to be around much longer and that if they wanted to say goodbye then now was the time to do it.
****