He Who Fights With Monsters
By Thalia Drogna
AN: This story now has a life of its own, when I started this I certainly didn't have 21 chapters in mind. Once again I feel that I'm being too mean to our beloved Trip, all I can say is that I promise it will all be alright in the end, even if it is taking us a while to get there.
After T'Pol and Phlox had finally disconnected the last of the makeshift connections that Trip had made to Enterprise's computer, they encased the gurney in a plastic cover, used for transporting possibly infectious patients. Ensigns Scott and Hooper moved Trip to the brig, where Hess had just finished installing the required medical equipment. They transferred the Commander carefully to the waiting bed, Phlox reconnected the drip and took a couple of scans. Everything seemed to be about as stable as could be expected, so he moved out of the holding cell and shut the door. He wasn't happy about putting his patient into a cell in the brig but he knew that he had no choice. The unique condition that Commander Tucker was in necessitated this action.
"What is your next step, doctor?" asked T'Pol, standing beside him as he observed his sleeping patient through the mesh of the cell wall.
"I will conclude the anti-viral treatment and continue the neural regeneration. Once he is clear of the virus I hope to be able to re-connect his optical nerves and remove the implants. However, I will need to wait until he is more stable than he is at the moment. The virus still has some hours to run before he will have beaten it," said Phlox.
"In your opinion, how likely is it that you can also heal his mind?" asked T'Pol.
"I couldn't give you an estimate if I tried, T'Pol. He's been through a lot. He's seen things which a human should never have to see and had his freedom completely taken away from him. His injuries alone would give me cause for concern, but we know that he was also the victim of brainwashing and that can be very hard to undo, especially if the victim's mind was already in a fragile state," said Phlox. "I suspect that if Commander Tucker had not had his run in with the Xindi then he would have fought much harder against the Rel Sevanne's conditioning."
"Are you suggesting that Commander Tucker willingly allowed himself to be manipulated?" asked T'Pol with disbelief. She knew that Commander Tucker had endured weeks of torture by the Xindi and not given them any information, it seemed unlikely that he would have succumbed to the brainwashing by the Rel Sevanne without putting up some resistance.
"Not exactly willingly, but perhaps he didn't put up much of a fight. He was only part of the computer for a few days, but it appears that the brainwashing was very thorough. The Rel Sevanne allowed him to escape from all the pain of his life on Enterprise. It allowed him to forget about the attack on Earth and the Xindi, but provided him with a family and sense of belonging. You can imagine how tempting it must have been to simply give in to what he was being told. It will be hard to get him to leave that behind and embrace reality again."
"I see," said T'Pol. "Is there any way that I can be of assistance, Doctor? Commander Tucker's health is of utmost importance to this crew."
"I would appreciate your help monitoring the nanite activity," said Phlox. "I am afraid they are rather outside my area of expertise but I believe that understanding them may be the key to the Commander's recovery."
"I will begin an analysis," said T'Pol, taking out her modified nanite scanner.
Phlox watched T'Pol taking scans and wondered if she even realised herself why she had remained to help. Phlox knew that she had many other tasks that required her attention and certainly did not need to ask for further work. According to T'Pol, Vulcans did not experience concern, but Phlox begged to differ, this Vulcan certainly did.
Archer pushed the doorbell to Shar Jen's quarters. Ensign Prior stood outside on guard duty. They had moved two Ensigns out of their quarters in order to provide quarters for Shar Jen and Sharien. Archer had apologised to both Ensigns personally, he really believed that Shar Jen and Sharien should be in the brig, not Trip.
He entered Shar Jen's quarters and found her sitting on the bed, a padd in her hand.
"Captain," she said in greeting.
"Shar Jen," he replied.
"I am reviewing the geological data that Sub-Commander T'Pol kindly provided to me on New Tien," said Shar Jen.
"New Tien?" asked Archer.
"Our new home, the planet that you're taking us to," said Shar Jen.
"You've named it already?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Shar Jen.
"How do you think the Kriel will react to you calling it New Tien?" he asked.
"I had not concerned myself with that," replied Shar Jen.
Archer took a deep breath and bit his tongue, deciding not to pursue Shar Jen's reasoning on the topic of names. "I came to talk to you about Commander Tucker," said Archer.
"I had guessed that," said Shar Jen. "You are concerned for his well being."
"He just tried to interface with Enterprise's main computer," said Archer. "I need to know everything that you know about Patriarchs that were disconnected from Tien computers."
"You already know everything that I do. This has never been done before. A Patriarch is only removed when they are near death. We never needed to remove anyone from our computer before," said Shar Jen.
"In all those centuries, with five ships, you never once had to remove a Patriarch or a Matriarch from the computer before they were already dying?" asked Archer.
"No, never," said Shar Jen. Then a look that Archer couldn't read passed across her features. "Well, perhaps once."
"Tell me," said Archer.
"There was a story, more of a legend. The Rel Ishtari supposedly had to replace their first Matriarch. The story goes that she lived a normal life for several years afterwards. I always thought that it was just a myth though, it can't possibly be true," said Shar Jen. "In any case it would have been over six hundred years ago, and all the records were destroyed with the Rel Sevanne."
"Not all of them," said Archer. "Trip transferred copies of all the files related to the Patriarchs and the Rel Sevanne's computer to Enterprise for T'Pol, so that she could try to find a way of getting him out of there."
"I need to see those files," said Shar Jen.
"You can work with T'Pol," said Archer.
"I'd prefer to work alone," said Shar Jen.
"I don't care what you'd prefer," said Archer. "You'll work with the Sub- commander." He didn't trust Shar Jen. He needed her to help Trip, but he certainly wasn't going to let her dictate terms.
"As you wish, Captain," said Shar Jen.
Sharien knocked on Reed's door and waited for him to answer. She had managed to slip out of her assigned quarters with some strategic short circuiting and a diversion to draw her guard's attention. Her slight limp and painful arm hadn't held her up unduly in her plans. As a security officer, she was good at was circumventing other people's security measures. She identified weaknesses and exploited them. She heard a muffled "come" from within the cabin and entered.
"Sharien," said Reed in a sleepy but displeased voice. He didn't look well and his broken right arm rested in a sling around his neck. "What did you do with Crewman Kachru?"
"I expect he is still guarding my empty quarters," said Sharien.
"Remind me to review my training procedures," said Reed. "You went to a lot of trouble to see me. What do you want? Decided to get your revenge?"
"If I had wanted to kill you, then I wouldn't have stopped to chat," said Sharien, "nor would I have bothered to knock."
"I did wonder," said Reed, sitting down heavily on his bed. He wasn't in any shape to protect himself at the moment. "So, I'll ask you again, what do you want?"
"Your help. I need to speak with you about our arrival at the planet," said Sharien.
"We get there in six days," said Reed. "Now leave me alone."
"Kriel and Tien cannot co-exist on a single planet," said Sharien.
"You're going to have to," said Reed.
"You're a Weapons Master, you know the realities that we face, I need your help," said Sharien.
"You tried to kill me," said Reed. "Why would I want to help you?"
"You stabbed me in the leg and yet I'm still here asking," she said. "Enterprise could help keep the peace, give one faction the advantage, put one faction in power and make it last."
"We're dropping you and Shar Jen off on that planet and then leaving. We don't have time to play peace keeper," said Reed.
"All I need are some of your weapons, enough to give me the upper hand over the Tien," said Sharien.
"You can't possibly be serious," said Reed.
"If you don't do something then we'll fight until there aren't any of us left," said Sharien.
"That's unbelievably stupid. You have a choice, you don't have to continue this idiotic war," said Reed. "Go and talk to Shar Jen, like the Captain said, and work out your differences. I won't help you."
"Fine," said Sharien, turning to go. "If you won't help me then I'll find someone who will. But perhaps you'd be more inclined to assist us if I tell you how to help your Chief Engineer."
"You know something about Trip's condition?" asked Reed.
"Maybe," said Sharien. "We once had to disconnect a Patriarch. He didn't live long afterwards, but I know why."
"If you know anything, you have to tell us," said Reed, moving towards Sharien.
"Not until you agree to help," said Sharien.
"I'll contact the Captain," said Reed, going to the com.
"I knew you'd see sense," said Sharien.
"Why did you come to me anyway?" asked Reed. "You could have gone directly to the Captain."
"Because you're the tactical officer. I knew that you'd hear me out. You look at problems in a certain way. Threats, opportunities and weaknesses. The same way that I do," said Sharien.
"I really hope that I don't," said Reed.
"Tell me, when you counted the casualties from the battle, did you count men or fighters?" asked Sharien.
"Men, of course," said Reed, but he knew she was right. Every time he'd lost a member of his squadron of fighters he's calculated what the loss of one fighter would mean to the battle plan. It wasn't until he'd been lying in sickbay that he'd thought about the pilots of each of those fighters. He wondered when the change had happened, when had he stopped thinking of those pilots as individuals and started thinking of them as pieces in a game. He hated himself for it but he knew it was just another survival instinct, if he had thought of them as people he would never have been able to order the attack on the Vor Devrees knowing that it was likely that very few of them would be coming back.
Sharien of course knew that he was lying and that annoyed him even more.
Archer found T'Pol in the brig, which was beginning to look more and more like an extension of the science lab. Hess had installed the remote monitoring devices that Phlox had asked for to keep watch over Trip's condition, everything had been specially shielded to prevent the nanites from remotely accessing them. T'Pol sat at one of the recently installed terminals examining data on the nanite activity. Phlox was inside the cell replacing Trip's IV and tending to his unconscious patient.
Archer explained to T'Pol that he needed her to examine the files from the Rel Sevanne with Shar Jen for anything about the Rel Ishtari Matriarch.
"You want me to chase a myth," said T'Pol.
"I think it may be more than a myth," said Archer.
"Even if it is true, what do you expect me to find?" asked T'Pol.
"I don't know, but if their Matriarch lived a normal life after being disconnected from the computer, then we have to find out how they were able to do it," said Archer.
"I will get to work with Shar Jen immediately," said T'Pol, getting up to go.
"How's Trip doing?" he asked.
"The Doctor feels that he is strong enough to attempt to reconnect his optical nerves," said T'Pol. "He thinks that it will aid his recovery if he is able to orient himself visually when he wakes up. He intends to operate later today."
"I suppose that's a step in the right direction," said Archer.
"It's more than a step, Captain," said Phlox, emerging from the holding cell. "His condition has improved considerably over the past few hours. His chances of regaining complete nerve functionality are improving."
Archer breathed a sigh of relief. "You've been able to repair the nerve damage?" he asked.
"Not completely, that will take some time, but enough that he should be able to move more easily," said Phlox. "I can't properly assess the success of the treatment until I can talk to him. I am concerned about how this will have affected his speech centres and motor abilities. He obviously had great difficulties communicating with us before and I think the nanites did most of the work moving his arm to connect with the data cabling."
"When can we try waking him again?" asked Archer.
"Well I'd prefer to wait until the optical nerves are reconnected, but we should be able to try again this afternoon," said Phlox.
"Give me a call when you're ready, Doctor. I want to be here when he wakes up," said Archer.
"Of course, Captain," said Phlox. Archer was about to leave when the com sounded. It was Lieutenant Reed requesting that he meet himself and Sharien in the Lieutenant's quarters.
"It doesn't sound as if the Lieutenant is resting," said Phlox. "Perhaps it was a mistake to release him from sickbay after all."
"I'll make sure that he rests, Doctor," said Archer. "I think it's best for everyone's sanity that Lieutenant Reed stays out of sickbay."
"You do have a point there," said Phlox. "I'll be down to give him his medication later, and you can tell him that if I find him doing anything other than resting he'll be back in sickbay within the hour."
"Okay, doctor," said Archer. "I'll pass the message on." He left the brig to go and talk to his Armoury Officer.
Phlox went to prepare for the delicate task of reconnecting Commander Tucker's optical nerves.
"Sharien has something to tell us," said Reed, sitting on his bed. Sharien stood in the centre of Reed's quarters, looking at Archer, who stood by the door.
"I think I may be able to help your Commander," said Sharien. "But I'm not telling you anything until you agree to help me."
"Help you how?" asked Archer.
"She wants us to give the Kriel weapons to defend themselves against the Tien," said Reed.
"No," said Archer. "Even if we could spare them, I wouldn't give you any weapons," said Archer.
"Then your Commander will never recover and you will be responsible for the deaths of not only the Kriel but also the Tien," said Sharien.
"I refuse to be part of this war that you seem determined to perpetuate long past its expiry date. I'll sit down with you and Shar Jen as an impartial negotiator if you want but that's the only involvement that I'm going to have in this," said Archer.
"I don't need the services of a negotiator, I need weapons to protect my people," said Sharien. "Doesn't Trip En Ath Tucker's wellbeing mean anything to you? I thought he was one of your people."
"His name is Commander Tucker and he is one of my people, but I don't respond well to ultimatums. Either you tell us what you know and I help you any way I can to make peace, or you can keep quiet and sort it out yourself with the Tien," said Archer.
"I need time to think," said Sharien.
"You can have it. Just don't take too long," said Archer. He called Ensign Kachru who escorted Sharien back to her quarters, with strict instructions that she was not to be allowed to escape again.
"Well, what do you make of her?" asked Reed, when she had gone.
"I don't know. She's pragmatic, ruthless and intelligent, it's a dangerous combination," said Archer.
"Do you think she really knows anything about Trip's condition?" said Reed.
"I have no idea. I'm not sure that it even matters. We can't give her what she wants," said Archer. "Even if it would help Trip."
"We could maybe spare some phase pistols," said Reed, "although not many, I wouldn't want to risk giving them anything that we can't replace easily."
"If I give the Kriel phase pistols then I'll have to give them to the Tien as well," said Archer. "This is about finishing a war, not helping to start a new one. If Shar Jen's research turns up something then maybe we won't need whatever Sharien has to tell us. Now get some rest or Phlox will have you back in sickbay."
"Yes, sir," said Reed and lay back down on the bed. Archer knew that Reed had to be really tired to do as he was told without any protest.
"How's it going?" asked Archer, as he stepped into the command centre.
"We have accessed the Rel Sevanne archives," said T'Pol. "However translation is proving difficult."
"Our language has changed considerably over the last seven hundred years," said Shar Jen. "It's difficult for me to read."
"Ensign Sato is running the database through the translator but it will take some time for the program to complete," said T'Pol. "In the mean time Shar Jen is attempting to translate some of it by hand."
"I've found the right area of the archives but we're looking at years worth of information," said Shar Jen.
"Well keep looking," said Archer. At the back of his mind was the fact that the Kriel patriarch who had been disconnected had died and the sooner they found out why the better.