Disclaimer: see Chapter 1

Chapter 6 A Visit to The Bridge

Simit could hardly contain his excitement as he traveled in the turbolift with Trip to the bridge. The Captain had extended the privilege to him earlier that day and he was quivering with anticipation, so much so that Trip noticed his agitation.

"Are you okay?" asked Trip, a note of concern in his voice.

"Oh, perfectly, thank you," replied Simit. "I hope I won't get in your way on the bridge?"

"No. Providing you don't take it into your mind to fire off a few torpedoes, we should be fine." Trip saw Simit gasp slightly at that and blink rather rapidly. "It's only a joke," Trip added in reassurance.

Before Simit could respond, they had reached their destination. Simit hung back to allow Trip to go first. He wanted to take his time appreciating his first view of the bridge. He took a pace forward, noting the situation room to his right and the sweep of the various consoles embracing the central command chair. The main viewscreen dominated the area, the blackness of space being punctuated by the warp-distorted images of suns.

Simit glanced around at the crew busily working at their stations. T'Pol was in command, studying her display. Hoshi and Travis were also present. Simit guessed the Captain would be in his Ready Room. He wasn't sure whether he was pleased or disappointed that Lieutenant Reed was not on bridge duty.

The bridge was more claustrophobic than Simit had expected and the lighting dimmer than elsewhere on the ship. He supposed that was to allow the crew to easily read off the displays. He glanced at his feet, springing just a touch on his toes. He could hardly credit that he was treading on NX-01's deckplates at the center of command. A historic moment indeed, with many more to come. Sneaking out a hand, he ran his fingers over a rail, feeling its solidity. A shiver ran up his spine.

T'Pol looked up. She welcomed their visitor with an inclination of her head and a cool, "Mr Simit."

"Sub-Commander," replied Simit. "The Captain said I might spend some time here."

T'Pol said, "The Captain has informed me," and returned to her work.

Simit ambled slowly around the consoles, admiring the efficient layout. He wondered if anyone would object if he inspected the tactical station. As he stood indecisively, unwilling to risk T'Pol's displeasure if it was not permitted, he was distracted by a clatter from Hoshi's direction. Trip had unshipped a panel and was kneeling to peer inside her console with a flashlight poised over the interior. Simit moved closer, pleased at such a good opportunity to observe.

Trip said to Hoshi, his voice a little muffled, "As I thought. It won't take a minute. It's just a minor problem with one of the relays."

Hoshi nodded, "Good. I thought there was more noise in the higher signal bands."

With a grunt, Trip sat back on his heels and gave her a quick grin. "You've got impressive hearing, that's for sure." He stood up. "I'll need to get a part from Engineering, but it will be quick to install." He moved off towards the turbo lift, stopping to talk to one of the engineers.

Simit edged nearer to the console. "May I see inside?" he asked Hoshi.

Checking that T'Pol didn't object, Hoshi said, "I think that'll be okay, providing you don't touch anything."

"I won't," promised Simit, hefting the flashlight left by Trip and directing it towards the fascinating circuitry. He had a good technical education and was eager to see the real life version of his textbooks. He knelt down to see better, using the light beam to trace along the relays, conduits and manifolds. "Amazing!" he whispered.

"I'm sure the Commander will explain it to you when he gets back," said Hoshi.

Simit flashed her a wide smile over his shoulder. "I would very much appreciate that."

Suddenly, the whole ship gave a massive judder - almost as if it had come to a complete halt before an obstacle and then leapt forwards to clear it. The inertial dampers were no match as the ship kicked and bucked. There was shipwide darkness before emergency systems kicked in. With a sickening drop, Enterprise gave one last twist before returning to an even flight path.

Sparking panels leant an acrid odor to the air on the bridge as the crew stumbled to their feet. T'Pol had been flung onto the floor during the unscheduled maneuvers. Clawing her way back to the command chair, she pulled herself up and rapidly surveyed the bridge through the smoke. Everyone seemed to be essentially unhurt, although shaken up and bruised. Trip had also regained his feet and began checking out the systems from the engineering station. The automatic systems had shut down overheated conduits before they caught fire but there was a smoky pall for some minutes while the air recycling worked overtime to purge the atmosphere.

"Report," T'Pol demanded, coughing.

Travis had resumed his post at the helm. His fingers flew across his control panel. He admitted, "I don't know what it was - a spatial disturbance of some kind. Quite localized according to the navigation sensors. I can't detect any other pockets on our course."

Crewman Risse was manning the tactical station. He relayed to T'Pol the injury reports from the rest of the ship. Miraculously there were no serious casualties.

T'Pol acknowledged the reports as the Captain appeared from his Ready Room nursing a bruised elbow. "Everyone okay?" he asked. T'Pol replied with an assessment of the situation. Then she noticed Hoshi leaning down. There was one casualty after all - Simit.

The Histan had been flung headfirst into the open console housing, taking the flashlight with him. Now he lay motionless with the upper half of his body rammed into the space.

As T'Pol went over to her, Hoshi said, her voice shaky, "I think he's badly hurt, but he's breathing and there's a pulse."

"Medical team to the bridge - medical emergency," called Archer over the comm, also going to check on Simit.

Within a couple of minutes, the turbolift door swept open to reveal Phlox and an assistant. Calmly Phlox moved the others aside and directed his medical scanner over the prone form. "I'll need to get him to Sick Bay," Phlox announced as he and his assistant gently extracted Simit from the housing and moved him onto a stretcher.

"How is he?" asked Archer. He swallowed hard as he took in the extensive injuries. There were burns over a large area of Simit's body and his face had come off the worse. It was not a pleasant sight. Hoshi gave a quiet moan and averted her eyes.

Phlox replied, "It is serious. I'll give you a full report when I've examined him." He had lost his cheerful manner and that didn't go unnoticed by Archer. The Doctor ushered his assistant and helpers into the turbolift with the injured alien.

Archer watched them go with a heavy heart. Life could be so arbitrary at times, he thought.

Trip had carried out his preliminary systems checks and was now peering into the void that Simit had pitched into. He whistled softly and shook his head as he swung the flashlight beam over the circuitry within the console. "I don't know how he's managed it, but it looks like every circuit in there is totally fried! He's made connections between conduits that were never meant to be." He glanced over his shoulder at T'Pol and Archer. "This is a big job, Sub-commander, Cap'n. It'll take the better part of a day to get the communications working properly again. We've still got internal functions but external comms are off-line."

The Captain was very concerned for his guest but at the same time, he was grateful it wasn't worse. The damage to Enterprise could be fixed and he had feared a much larger injury list. With accustomed efficiency, the crew got to work to bring Enterprise back to her proper state while Phlox worked away in Sick Bay attempting to revive Simit.

ooOOOoo

Several hours later, Archer received a call from Phlox. It was a call he had been dreading.

Captain, please come down to Sick Bay.

Archer closed his eyes and asked, "How's Simit?" not really wanting to know the answer.

Phlox paused for a beat, then said, I am confident he will make a full recovery. However, my scans have revealed some... anomalies.

Archer frowned, nonplussed by Phlox's answer. It was not at all what he had been expecting.

Captain? said Phlox.

"Uh, yes, Doctor. I'll be down straight away," replied Archer. He closed the channel and grimaced in bemusement. 'A full recovery' Phlox had said. He must have worked a miracle. However, he hadn't liked Phlox's seemingly perplexed tone. And what on Earth did 'anomalies' mean? Oh well, there was only one way to find out.

Archer stepped up onto the bridge from his Ready Room. Everything was under control, with Trip and his team hard at work replacing blown relays and trying to reconstitute the comms system.

Archer caught T'Pol's eye, "T'Pol?"

She followed him off the bridge and into the turbolift.

"Phlox tells me Mr Simit should recover from his accident. However, there does seem to be a problem with our visitor," said Archer turning to T'Pol as the door hissed shut.

T'Pol merely raised an eyebrow.

Archer continued, determined to get some reaction from her, "Phlox tells me he exhibits anomalies, whatever that means."

"Indeed?" said T'Pol, uttered in the most detached tone possible.

Archer was exasperated by T'Pol's seeming lack of interest. He didn't buy it. Her scientific curiosity was burning to know too, he bet. What did Phlox have in store for them?

TBC

A/N: The next Chapter will be entitled "A Revelation" - Yes, some answers at last!