He Who Fights With Monsters
By Thalia Drogna
Archer sat at his desk in his ready room and looked at the two women in front of him. They were identical twins, except that he knew that they were the products of two divergent universes. They were two completely different people, or more correctly they were different aspects of the same person. The question was what to do with them.
He knew what he wanted to do. Put both of them in the brig and throw away the key. One of the women in front of him had been complicit in the kidnapping of his Chief Engineer, the other had tried to kill his Armoury officer. He would have been perfectly justified in doing it as well, except that he knew he wasn't going to be able to. He couldn't have two prisoners when they were trying to find the Xindi, and who knew how long that would take. He would have turned them over to their own people for trial except that neither side would regard what they had done as wrong, they were simply necessary acts in the war.
He wasn't even sure that Starfleet wouldn't agree with that assessment. It had been made very clear to him when he'd started this mission that he had to respect the rules and customs of other cultures, and above all, stay out of their wars. The last thing Earth needed was another alien race intent on their destruction because they'd got themselves in the middle of something they shouldn't have. He knew he'd bent the rules sometimes, occasionally broken them, but that was before the Xindi had attacked Earth and changed everything. It wasn't his place to punish the two aliens in front of him, no matter how much he wanted to.
"The life pods of both the Tien and Kriel are heading for the same planet in the nearby star system. Our scans indicated that it should be quite capable of supporting you all. We'll drop you off there before we continue on," said Archer, coldly.
"The Tien sharing a planet with the Kriel? They'll kill us all, you have to take us somewhere else Captain," said Shar Jen.
"I don't have to do anything! You're lucky I don't have you both thrown in the brig," said Archer.
"The Kriel will not share a planet with the Tien heretics," said Sharien. "I prevented the destruction of your ship by disarming the inter-reality cannon, you owe me for that."
"That isn't exactly how I remember events," said Archer. "That explosion would have destroyed the lifepods of your people as well as the Tien, it was as much in your interests to stop that explosion as it was in ours. More yours since Enterprise could have outrun the blast."
"You don't understand, Captain," said Shar Jen. "The Kriel are evil. You can't leave the Tien to face their enemy after you went to all this trouble to save us."
"Let me make one thing clear to you, if you hadn't kidnapped Commander Tucker then I would have left you to fight your own battles, we wouldn't have even been here when the Vor Devrees arrived. We don't owe you anything and I don't care about your petty squabbles. T'Pol estimates that about one thousand Tien escaped and a similar number of Kriel, that's barely enough people to rebuild your civilisation. It will be impossible if you can't work together, so I suggest you work out you differences."
"You're asking us to forget centuries of war and feuding. What about all the Tien that the Kriel killed, the Rel Sanvigo, the Rel Ishtari, the Rel Meritaten, the Rel Luis-Nion and the Rel Sevanne. Did all those Tien die for nothing?" asked Shar Jen.
"Many Kriel died too," said Sharien. "I knew I should never have helped to disarm the cannon I could have killed you all with that."
"Then why didn't you?" asked Shar Jen angrily. "Or perhaps you were the one who fears death?"
"I am not a coward," replied Sharien. "I allowed myself to be swayed by your arguments. I was thinking about my people, but I should have known that they would be happy to die if it meant ridding the universe of the vermin Tien."
"How dare you speak about the Tien in that way!" shouted Shar Jen.
"You are the coward, afraid to die for your cause!" shouted Sharien at the same time as Shar Jen.
"Enough!" shouted Archer over them both and the two women fell silent. "Weren't you the one who asked if you should fight until no more Kriel and Tien are left?" he said looking at Shar Jen. "I suggest you listen to your own rhetoric. The Tien and Kriel in those life pods are all that is left of your respective races. You don't have the luxury of not working together. Enterprise isn't equipped to take that many people so you have no choice, it's this planet or nothing. You find a way to get along or you die. It will take us a few days to get there so I suggest you use that time to discuss how you will work together. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
Shar Jen and Sharien looked a little stunned at the Captain's outburst but Sharien inclined her head in a slight nod and left the ready room.
"Captain, there is something else I must talk to you about," said Shar Jen.
"Make it quick," said Archer, he was in no mood for more complaints.
"How is Trip En?" she asked.
"His name is Commander Tucker. You haven't earned the right to call him Trip, or Trip En. And how dare you even ask that?" said Archer angrily. "You're the ones who caused him to be in a position to be injured."
"Nevertheless I have a right to know," said Shar Jen.
"What right do you have? You kidnapped him and used him as a... a spare part for your computer. You stripped away his humanity and brainwashed him into believing that was what he wanted," said Archer.
"I love him," Shar Jen blurted out.
"You love him?" asked Archer in disbelief. "How can you possibly love him when you let this happen to him? After what you did to him?"
"I was under orders to get Commander Tucker to become our Patriarch either voluntarily or by force. Ten En recognised that I had formed a bond with him and he asked me to use that to talk to him. The situation was not in my control. If I hadn't done it then one of the others would have done. If there had been any other way to save my people then I would have taken it," said Shar Jen. "Now, please, you have to tell me how he is."
"He's in critical condition, our doctor has him isolated to prevent any possible spread of the virus. We won't know for a few hours if the anti- viral is working," said Archer.
"I'd like to see him," said Shar Jen.
"Out of the question," said Archer.
"Please. You said that it will only take a few days to reach our new home. After that I'll never see him again. This is the only time that we have."
"No," said Archer. "You've caused Trip nothing but pain. I won't put him through anymore. Ensign Scott will escort you back to your quarters," said Archer and turned back to his monitor.
Shar Jen closed her eyes and hung her head in a look of pure defeat but turned and left the ready room without another word. Perhaps Captain Archer had refused her permission to see Trip En but she knew that there was always a way. If she could just see him, then perhaps she could persuade him to come with her, she at least had to try and Trip had taught her that there was nothing a good engineer couldn't do.
Reed had only been in sickbay for a day and he was already going stir crazy. He suspected that Phlox was purposely keeping him drugged up to the eyeballs so that he was too spaced out to cause trouble, but even through the haze of medication he knew he didn't want to be in sickbay. Not only that, he was desperate for word on Commander Tucker's condition and no one would tell him anything. One of Phlox's assistants had told him that the Doctor was in decon with Trip, but that was the only information he'd been able to gather.
This really wasn't how he had envisioned Trip coming back to Enterprise. He had known that getting him back wasn't going to be easy but he hadn't expected it to nearly kill both him and Trip. He was just contemplating an escape plan when Captain Archer entered sickbay.
Archer had been trying to take his mind off Trip's condition, it had been nearly twelve hours since he'd left Phlox in decon. He had taken Porthos for a walk, then he'd tried to get some sleep, but that had been a very bad idea. Lying in his darkened room had allowed all the terrible eventualities that he'd been trying not to think about to crowd into his mind. He'd given up on sleep and found some paperwork to do, but even then he'd found himself distracted and unable to concentrate. He gave up and called Phlox to let him know that he was going to visit Malcolm.
"Hi Malcolm," said Archer. "Just thought I'd come and check on how you were doing."
"I'm fine, sir," replied Malcolm, automatically. "Although Phlox has me on some interesting pain medication."
Archer nodded, Malcolm's wide eyes had already tipped him off to the fact that he was on some serious medication. "I gather that you've been asking after Trip," he said.
"Yes, sir," said Reed. "Do you have any news on how he is?"
"He's not in good shape, but Phlox seems to think that we reached him in time. He's given him the anti-viral and we'll know soon whether it's working," said Archer.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Reed.
"What for?" asked Archer.
"That I couldn't get him out of there before all this blew up in our faces. I completely misread the situation and allowed myself to be captured by the Tien. I was depending on the friendship of a brainwashing subject, it was an utterly stupid mistake that a rookie wouldn't have made. If I'd formulated a better plan we would have had Commander Tucker out of there before any of this happened. Sharien was right, I'm a poor excuse for a security officer," said Reed.
"That's ridiculous. You risked your life, twice, to save Trip. Anyone else would have tried to get back to Enterprise after the crash, instead you were more concerned about getting to Trip than looking after your own injuries. You did everything that you could, Lieutenant, and more than anyone could have expected of you," finished Archer.
"If that's true, then why do I feel like I let him down?" said Reed, miserably.
"Because Trip got hurt and you couldn't do anything to stop it. It wasn't your fault, Lieutenant. We didn't know that we were walking into the middle of the war when we offered our assistance to the Rel Sevanne," said Archer.
"I promised him that I'd look out for him. He was really scared to go over to the Rel Sevanne, after what happened last time...and it was my idea to take him with us. He asked me if I'd stick with him and I told him I would," said Reed getting more and more agitated. "I should have kept my promise."
"Malcolm, don't do this to yourself," said Archer.
"Why not? It's my fault that a fellow officer is injured and possibly dying. Because I didn't do my job, because I didn't protect him," said Reed.
"You can't protect everyone all the time, Malcolm," said Archer. "Trip was the one who wandered off with Shar Jen to look at their computer. You can't protect someone who doesn't want to be protected. As far as I'm concerned you did everything you could to safeguard this crew."
"Tell that to Trip," said Reed.
"I will, when he wakes up," said Archer. "But I suspect he already knows it."
Reed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Trip had told Reed himself that he wasn't to blame, why couldn't he believe it? He felt drained and ill, and his friend was lying in decon dying of a disease which they'd engineered. He was so very tired and he just wished this whole nightmare would end.
The com sounded. "Phlox to Captain Archer."
"Archer here," replied the Captain, going to the com. His heart beat speeded up as he answered, hoping desperately that he wasn't going hear that Trip had taken a turn for the worse.
"Captain, I have good news. Commander Tucker is responding to the anti- viral. His temperature is down and his immune system is holding its own," said Phlox.
Archer breathed a sigh of relief, at least Trip was out of immediate danger. "Thanks, doctor, I'll be right down," said Archer. He turned around to tell Malcolm and noticed that the Armoury officer had pushed himself up on the bed and was detaching the drip from his arm.
"Malcolm, what are you doing?" asked Archer.
"Getting out of here," said Reed. "I need to see Trip."
"Malcolm..." began Archer.
"With all due respect, sir, either get out of my way or help me," said Reed. Archer took one look at his Armoury officer and went to find a wheelchair. Reed looked very pale but he also looked very determined.
"Malcolm, we need have a serious talk about you following orders. I'm going to make a deal with you. I'll take you to see Trip, but after that you have to come straight back to sickbay. Is that understood?"
Reed sat with his bare feet dangling over the edge of the bed and nodded his agreement.
Trip awoke in decon to an eerie silence and darkness. His eyes were open but he couldn't see, and he knew he lay on a bed but he couldn't feel it. He felt cold. Except it wasn't exactly cold, it was more like his soul had been cut out of his body and he was now a completely empty vessel. He couldn't hear the Rel Sevanne anymore and that left him feeling completely without hope. He tried to reach out for the ship but it was just gone. He couldn't feel the emotions of the Tien either. There was pain too, but it wasn't specific, he just hurt. His breathing quickened.
The nanites were still there and their chatter at least gave him something to hang on to. They made him feel less like he was completely alone. He tried to move and found that he couldn't, or at least it was very difficult as if his entire body had fallen asleep. He couldn't move when he was part of the Rel Sevanne, so that was right, but everything else was wrong. He was worried by the blackness and not being able to hear the ship. He should have been assailed by all the various data feeds from the ship, there should have been camera feeds showing him everything that was happening, instead there was nothing, only the nanites telling him about their own internal workings.
"Commander," said a voice he recognised. "Try to stay calm, you're being looked after. You're safe on Enterprise."
Trip struggled to form words, he was out of practice with verbal communication, before they'd pulled him out of the computer it had been days since he'd used his vocal cords. The computer had synthesised his voice, quite a good facsimile of his voice he thought, proud of his own work, and that was what he'd used to speak. His own body had been paralysed by the drugs and neural inputs from the Rel Sevanne while his mind did all the work. Now his brain didn't seem to be working properly at all, it was as if he was underwater and all his thoughts had slowed down. Making his mouth work was so hard, but he needed to know what had happened.
"W-w-where?" he managed to get out.
"You're in decon," said Phlox. "On Enterprise."
"Put... put me back," he said, his voice little more than a rough breath.
"We can't," said Phlox. "The Rel Sevanne was destroyed in the battle."
"Can't... have been," he said, shaking his head. But it would explain why he couldn't hear the ship any longer.
"I'm afraid it's true," replied Phlox. Archer and Reed arrived. Archer parked the wheelchair outside the airlock door to decon and helped Malcolm up. They cycled the airlock and entered the inner room where Trip lay.
"How is he?" asked the captain.
"He's awake but rather confused," said Phlox. "Lieutenant, you should be in bed."
"I was bored," said Reed.
"He wouldn't take no for an answer," said Archer to Phlox.
"Captain?" Trip asked turning blind eyes towards the sound of his commanding officer's voice.
"Yes, Trip, it's me. You're safe on Enterprise," said Archer, going to his friend's side.
"Rel...Sevanne?" he asked, shakily.
"It's gone Trip, destroyed," said Archer.
"No...can't... be gone," said Trip, breathing hard. His eyes closed in pain.
He tried harder to reach out with the nanites and touch the Rel Sevanne computer once again, and was surprised when he felt the presence of another computer. It wasn't his computer but it was a computer. It felt wrong this one, all spiky and hard edged, the information was like a low resolution image, blocky and without finesse. Interfacing with the Rel Sevanne had been like breathing, this took a lot more effort. He couldn't remote access with this computer and get what he needed from it.
He had to do something, he had to fill the hole inside himself. He had to interface with a computer and get back the feeling that he had before, of belonging and warmth. He put all his strength into moving his arm and reaching out for the metal he knew was near by, or more correctly the data conduit behind it. The nanites had detected it and passed the information to him.
Archer, Reed and Phlox watched in disbelief as Trip moved his arm jerkily, with obvious effort until his fingers touched the wall, and then it was as if the metal dissolved under his fingertips. Suddenly his hand was through the wall and Archer realised too late what was happening as wires seemingly moved themselves over Trip's skin and in seconds had connected to the black plugs of the Tien implants.
"Doctor!" shouted Archer. He made a grab for Trip's arm but the wires were now securely attached to Trip. It had all happened very quickly, and none of them had seen it coming. More connections joined the first bunches of cables.
The nanites built bridges for Trip and suddenly he found that he could hear the inner workings of the ship, but it still wasn't the Rel Sevanne. There were no thousands of Tien for him to sense and hear their every word. As he interrogated the mainframe that he was connected to, he found the report of the Rel Sevanne's death. He asked the nanites to verify the account, not wanting to believe that it was true but they found no reason to doubt the computer. The Rel Sevanne was gone and with it all the warmth and feelings of safety that he had felt. Tears fell down his cheeks even though he couldn't feel them and didn't know that he cried them.
He couldn't have the Rel Sevanne, but he still had the computer that he was currently conjoined with. He instructed the nanites to submerge him further into the mainframe and he felt the reassuring feel of wires wrap around him and he let the computer take over his consciousness so that his personality was merely a thin veneer on top of his thought processes, and he listened to the ship. The lights in Decon dimmed slightly before returning to their former brightness.
"What was that?" asked Reed.
"I think that was Trip," replied Archer. "Doctor, do something!"
Phlox was frantically preparing a hypospray. "I just need a moment. In his current state too much sedative could kill him, not enough and it won't do anything. It's a difficult balance." Phlox made the final adjustment and pressed the hypospray to Trip's neck. It took a little time but finally Trip went limp. Archer looked down at the loom of wires that now led into Trip's right arm.
"I don't understand," said Archer. "What is he trying to do?"
"Interface with Enterprise's computer. Except Enterprise's computer wasn't meant to have a human component like the Rel Sevanne, what he has done is extremely dangerous. Luckily the nanites have been able to stop most of the potential damage. Of course if it weren't for the nanites he wouldn't be able to do this at all," said Phlox.
"What now, doctor? We can't keep him permanently sedated," said Archer.
"For the moment I can and will keep him sedated. Then I'll need T'Pol's help to disconnect him again," said Phlox.
"You'll have it," said Archer.
"Perhaps we should move him somewhere that doesn't have any computers that he can interface with," said Reed, leaning heavily against the doorway.
"The Lieutenant has a point. This is endangering his health further, we can't allow him to do this again," said Phlox.
"There's nowhere on Enterprise that's free of computers," said Archer.
"The brig," said Reed.
"I can't put Trip in the brig," said Archer.
"Why not? There aren't any computers and it's well shielded, I doubt the nanites could remotely access the computers or even locate a data conduit," said Reed.
"Okay, call Lieutenant Hess, get her to fit out the brig with what the Doctor needs," said Archer. "Make sure that anything which uses a computer is outside the cell. And none of it is networked."
"Yes, sir," said Reed, moving to the com.
"But Captain, most of my equipment uses some sort of computer and I'll need bio-monitors installed to check on his condition," said Phlox, looking worried.
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but no computers. You'll just have to scan him from outside the holding cell," said Archer.
"I suppose that will have to suffice," said Phlox.
"Lieutenant, get a couple of your security officers down here, preferably two that know how to keep their mouths shut. I'd prefer to keep this quiet. Phlox can immunise them against the virus. We'll move Trip down to the brig as soon as Hess is ready," said Archer.
Reed made the necessary calls and T'Pol arrived a few minutes later to help Phlox. After some argument it was agreed that the Lieutenant would return to his quarters for rest and would not have to go back to sickbay. Phlox did, however, reserve the right to make house calls and return Reed to sickbay if he was found not to be resting. Archer knew that threat alone would probably be enough to make Reed behave, but he detailed Ensign Hooper off to "escort Lieutenant Reed to his quarters", by which he meant push the wheelchair. Reed still wasn't up to walking far and Phlox's pain medication that was coursing through his system wasn't making it any easier for him to stay upright.
"What happened?" T'Pol asked, seemingly unfazed by Commander Tucker's right side being enmeshed in wires and optical data cabling.
"He attempted to interface with Enterprise's computer," said Phlox.
"It seems as if he succeeded," said T'Pol, holding up her specially modified nanite scanner. "Data is moving between Enterprise's computer core and the nanites. Interesting."
"His brain activity has increased as well," said Phlox. "This is extremely taxing to his already damaged nervous system. We need to disconnect him as quickly as possible."
"Agreed, doctor," said T'Pol. "I suggest we begin with the optical feeds."
Archer watched as Phlox and T'Pol once more went to work on Trip's inert form. He noted how careful they were to disconnect each individual wire, he knew that disconnecting everything at once would most likely drive Trip into shock and, in his current state, probably kill him. He had thought that once they had Trip out of the Rel Sevanne it would only be a matter of healing his injuries, but it seemed that there was more going on here than he had previously suspected.
So far Trip's communication with them had only been broken sentences but Archer had noticed the one thing he had said both times he'd been awake was that he wanted to be put back into the Rel Sevanne's computer. It was no good, he had to acknowledge that Trip needed more help than they had the capability to give him. And worse than that, he knew there was someone on board who had far more knowledge about Trip's problem than the rest of his crew put together. The person who'd caused Trip's problem in the first place. He had to talk to Shar Jen.