Mentem Mortalia Tangunt
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
Thanks to everyone for the great reviews, this is the last chapter (although there's also an epilogue).
*************************************************
Chapter 9
Archer sat next to Trip in Sick Bay. Trip looked very much as he had done when Archer had dropped in to Sick Bay before the battle with the Xindi ship. That had been almost twenty four hours ago and Archer had been sat beside Trip for most of that time. Phlox's "couple of hours" before they knew whether the antidote was working had turned out to be considerably longer.
Archer was reading a padd, it was the critical systems damage report. He thought to himself, perhaps I should add my Chief Engineer and best friend to this list. Trip was, after all, a critical system as far as Enterprise was concerned and, Archer had to admit, as far as he was concerned as well. He wished Trip could be fixed as easily as a few damaged bulk heads or the shuttle bay doors. At least the repairs to the port nacelle had been completed. Archer was tired but didn't really feel like sleeping, he rubbed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the padd.
He and T'Pol had discussed with Milas what to do about the saboteur Mentan. Milas would have happily let Archer take him back to Earth for trial but that wasn't practical and both Captains had agreed that Mentan should be transferred back to the Jorgan ship to be tried on Jorga. Archer would have dearly liked to make the Jorgan pay in full for what he had inflicted upon Trip but when he had seen the pitiful specimen that now sat in their brig, all his hatred had left him. From what Lieutenant Reed had reported, the Jorgan was as much a puppet in this as anything, he hadn't even known about the Xindi probe. Reed would arrange for transfer of the prisoner as soon as the damage from the battle had been taken care of.
It bothered Archer a lot that they still didn't know who had provided the Jorgan spy with his cloak. Someone was behind this, helping the Xindi with information and technology and Archer was going to find out who, but not today. Reed was sure that Mentan didn't know who it was and Archer wondered if even the Xindi knew who they were really dealing with.
Archer had begun by talking to Trip, telling him about his Xindi worries, but to be honest it made him feel self conscious talking to the comatose engineer in an otherwise quiet sickbay. At some point Phlox had come and detached the tubes from Trip's arms and replaced them with a conventional drip. Archer had hoped that meant that the antidote had worked but Phlox had explained that was just the complete dose that he was able to give Trip. Phlox drew blood from Trip's arm and took it away for analysis.
Archer hated this waiting. He almost wished that he was back in the fight with the Xindi at least then he had been doing something to safeguard the lives of the crew. He couldn't do anything about saving Trip's life, it was all down to some alien chemicals and Trip's own tenacity.
He was jerked out of his reverie by one of the machines beside Trip beeping loudly and insistently.
"Doctor!" he shouted, dropping the padd on his chair.
Phlox emerged from his office. "It's nothing to be worried about," said Phlox. "It's just an automatic alarm to let me know that his medication needs replenishing." Phlox went away and returned with another bag of something which he fixed to the drip. "I do however have some good news, it seems the antidote is working. His blood count seems to be returning to normal and the poison is being leeched from his tissue as it should be."
"What about the damage the poison did while it was in his system?" asked Archer still worried.
"He has sustained some organ damage but I think it is treatable. His kidneys and liver took quite a hammering while trying to get rid of the poison from his blood," said Phlox.
"What does that mean?" asked Archer, he wasn't sure if Phlox was giving him good news or bad at the moment.
"Well it will affect his ability to fight off illness, but I think the prognosis is good. Eventually he should make a complete recovery," said Phlox and smiled broadly at Archer.
"Thank god for that," said Archer. "I really thought we were going to lose him this time." Phlox couldn't help but notice the huge relief and tiredness in Archer's voice and made a mental note to check that their Captain got some rest soon.
More alarms sounded from one of the machines that kept watch over Trip and Archer looked down at his friend.
"He's waking up," said Phlox, moving to check his patient's vital signs.
"Come on Trip, you can do it," said Archer. "Just open your eyes."
Trip heard the voice and half recognised it. He'd been in a dark place for sometime now and he wasn't really sure how to leave it. Every time he wanted to leave something stopped him, until he had finally decided that his only option was to remain in the dark. Somehow the voice was drawing him away from the dark though. The voice was telling him to open his eyes, so he tried and although his eyelids felt too heavy to move he finally prised them open. The light was bright and he blinked. Two fuzzy shapes were visible and as he looked, and blinked, they turned into people. One of them was Jon.
He tried to speak but he couldn't, something was stopping him. Suddenly he was very worried, why couldn't he speak? What was going on? The only thing which prevented him from outright panic was the presence of Jon, it couldn't be that bad if Jon was here. He attempted to sit up but none of his muscles wanted to work. He felt so weak and helpless.
"It's okay Trip," soothed Archer, seeing a look of fear in the blue eyes that had just opened. He put a reassuring hand on Trip's shoulder. "Just relax. You're in Sick Bay. Everything's going to be okay." Trip looked at Archer and then at Phlox in a questioning manner.
"We had to put in a tube to help you breathe, Commander. Be patient a moment and I'll remove it. This will probably feel a bit strange," said Phlox. Archer stood back, wincing inwardly for his friend as Phlox went through the uncomfortable procedure of withdrawing the tube. Trip coughed violently once it was out but eventually he settled down again.
Trip decided that he had to try to talk even though his throat hurt like hell and his mouth was a dry as a bone. He had too many questions. "What happened?" he whispered. It set off the coughing again but it didn't last so long this time.
"The poison reached your autonomic nervous system and I was forced to put you on life support when you dropped into a coma," said Phlox.
Trip nodded he vaguely remembered feeling more and more dizzy and not being able to breathe. "How long?" he tried again. It was meant to be "How long have I been out for?" but that was just too long a sentence to manage at the moment.
"Nearly two days," said Archer. "You're getting better now though. The doctor has cleared the poison out of your system, right Doctor?"
"That is correct, you should start to feel better soon. However, you will be weak for a while yet," said Phlox. He didn't want to over burden his patient with information just yet, Trip had quite a way to go before he was back to full health again, but they could discuss things when he felt better. "How do you feel?" asked the doctor.
Trip thought about it for a second, "I've been worse," he said and gave them a weak smile, a pale shadow of his usual warm grin.
"You've been better," said Archer.
"Tired now," mumbled Trip. He shut his eyes and was soon asleep. Archer ignored Phlox's attempts to get him to leave, picked up the padd that was on the chair where it had fallen and sat down to continue reading his report. Somehow the damage that they had sustained didn't seem to be quite so bad as he remembered it. Perhaps, he thought that was because he could scratch one Chief Engineer from the list of replacement parts required.
By Thalia Drogna
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them.
Thanks to everyone for the great reviews, this is the last chapter (although there's also an epilogue).
*************************************************
Chapter 9
Archer sat next to Trip in Sick Bay. Trip looked very much as he had done when Archer had dropped in to Sick Bay before the battle with the Xindi ship. That had been almost twenty four hours ago and Archer had been sat beside Trip for most of that time. Phlox's "couple of hours" before they knew whether the antidote was working had turned out to be considerably longer.
Archer was reading a padd, it was the critical systems damage report. He thought to himself, perhaps I should add my Chief Engineer and best friend to this list. Trip was, after all, a critical system as far as Enterprise was concerned and, Archer had to admit, as far as he was concerned as well. He wished Trip could be fixed as easily as a few damaged bulk heads or the shuttle bay doors. At least the repairs to the port nacelle had been completed. Archer was tired but didn't really feel like sleeping, he rubbed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the padd.
He and T'Pol had discussed with Milas what to do about the saboteur Mentan. Milas would have happily let Archer take him back to Earth for trial but that wasn't practical and both Captains had agreed that Mentan should be transferred back to the Jorgan ship to be tried on Jorga. Archer would have dearly liked to make the Jorgan pay in full for what he had inflicted upon Trip but when he had seen the pitiful specimen that now sat in their brig, all his hatred had left him. From what Lieutenant Reed had reported, the Jorgan was as much a puppet in this as anything, he hadn't even known about the Xindi probe. Reed would arrange for transfer of the prisoner as soon as the damage from the battle had been taken care of.
It bothered Archer a lot that they still didn't know who had provided the Jorgan spy with his cloak. Someone was behind this, helping the Xindi with information and technology and Archer was going to find out who, but not today. Reed was sure that Mentan didn't know who it was and Archer wondered if even the Xindi knew who they were really dealing with.
Archer had begun by talking to Trip, telling him about his Xindi worries, but to be honest it made him feel self conscious talking to the comatose engineer in an otherwise quiet sickbay. At some point Phlox had come and detached the tubes from Trip's arms and replaced them with a conventional drip. Archer had hoped that meant that the antidote had worked but Phlox had explained that was just the complete dose that he was able to give Trip. Phlox drew blood from Trip's arm and took it away for analysis.
Archer hated this waiting. He almost wished that he was back in the fight with the Xindi at least then he had been doing something to safeguard the lives of the crew. He couldn't do anything about saving Trip's life, it was all down to some alien chemicals and Trip's own tenacity.
He was jerked out of his reverie by one of the machines beside Trip beeping loudly and insistently.
"Doctor!" he shouted, dropping the padd on his chair.
Phlox emerged from his office. "It's nothing to be worried about," said Phlox. "It's just an automatic alarm to let me know that his medication needs replenishing." Phlox went away and returned with another bag of something which he fixed to the drip. "I do however have some good news, it seems the antidote is working. His blood count seems to be returning to normal and the poison is being leeched from his tissue as it should be."
"What about the damage the poison did while it was in his system?" asked Archer still worried.
"He has sustained some organ damage but I think it is treatable. His kidneys and liver took quite a hammering while trying to get rid of the poison from his blood," said Phlox.
"What does that mean?" asked Archer, he wasn't sure if Phlox was giving him good news or bad at the moment.
"Well it will affect his ability to fight off illness, but I think the prognosis is good. Eventually he should make a complete recovery," said Phlox and smiled broadly at Archer.
"Thank god for that," said Archer. "I really thought we were going to lose him this time." Phlox couldn't help but notice the huge relief and tiredness in Archer's voice and made a mental note to check that their Captain got some rest soon.
More alarms sounded from one of the machines that kept watch over Trip and Archer looked down at his friend.
"He's waking up," said Phlox, moving to check his patient's vital signs.
"Come on Trip, you can do it," said Archer. "Just open your eyes."
Trip heard the voice and half recognised it. He'd been in a dark place for sometime now and he wasn't really sure how to leave it. Every time he wanted to leave something stopped him, until he had finally decided that his only option was to remain in the dark. Somehow the voice was drawing him away from the dark though. The voice was telling him to open his eyes, so he tried and although his eyelids felt too heavy to move he finally prised them open. The light was bright and he blinked. Two fuzzy shapes were visible and as he looked, and blinked, they turned into people. One of them was Jon.
He tried to speak but he couldn't, something was stopping him. Suddenly he was very worried, why couldn't he speak? What was going on? The only thing which prevented him from outright panic was the presence of Jon, it couldn't be that bad if Jon was here. He attempted to sit up but none of his muscles wanted to work. He felt so weak and helpless.
"It's okay Trip," soothed Archer, seeing a look of fear in the blue eyes that had just opened. He put a reassuring hand on Trip's shoulder. "Just relax. You're in Sick Bay. Everything's going to be okay." Trip looked at Archer and then at Phlox in a questioning manner.
"We had to put in a tube to help you breathe, Commander. Be patient a moment and I'll remove it. This will probably feel a bit strange," said Phlox. Archer stood back, wincing inwardly for his friend as Phlox went through the uncomfortable procedure of withdrawing the tube. Trip coughed violently once it was out but eventually he settled down again.
Trip decided that he had to try to talk even though his throat hurt like hell and his mouth was a dry as a bone. He had too many questions. "What happened?" he whispered. It set off the coughing again but it didn't last so long this time.
"The poison reached your autonomic nervous system and I was forced to put you on life support when you dropped into a coma," said Phlox.
Trip nodded he vaguely remembered feeling more and more dizzy and not being able to breathe. "How long?" he tried again. It was meant to be "How long have I been out for?" but that was just too long a sentence to manage at the moment.
"Nearly two days," said Archer. "You're getting better now though. The doctor has cleared the poison out of your system, right Doctor?"
"That is correct, you should start to feel better soon. However, you will be weak for a while yet," said Phlox. He didn't want to over burden his patient with information just yet, Trip had quite a way to go before he was back to full health again, but they could discuss things when he felt better. "How do you feel?" asked the doctor.
Trip thought about it for a second, "I've been worse," he said and gave them a weak smile, a pale shadow of his usual warm grin.
"You've been better," said Archer.
"Tired now," mumbled Trip. He shut his eyes and was soon asleep. Archer ignored Phlox's attempts to get him to leave, picked up the padd that was on the chair where it had fallen and sat down to continue reading his report. Somehow the damage that they had sustained didn't seem to be quite so bad as he remembered it. Perhaps, he thought that was because he could scratch one Chief Engineer from the list of replacement parts required.