"C-28"

Chapter 3

Disclaimer, etc. at the beginning of Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry I took so long with this. Life gets busy when you least expect it. :)

Phlox entered the cargo bay and glanced around. The engineering team was hard at work, and no one even noticed his presence until he spoke to one of the ensigns. "Excuse me, but do you know where I can locate Commander Tucker? I assumed he'd be here. I have the results of the rest of my scans that he wanted to see."
"Sorry, Doctor. He left quite a while ago," the ensign replied.
"I thought he said he was going to be in his quarters," someone else supplied.
"Thank you. I'll try searching for him there," Phlox smiled and headed for the door.

++++++++++

The doctor pressed the chime a third time and spoke through the comm. "Commander, I know you're in there. No one has seen you in engineering for hours, and there are not many other places I can think of that you'd be."
He waited another ten seconds before pressing the comm one more time. "All right, Commander. I've given you fair warning. I'll leave my scan results and be on my way." Phlox entered his override code for Trip's door, which slid open with a hiss.
Entering the semi-darkened room, something just didn't feel right to Phlox. He noticed shards of broken glass strewn about on the floor. Stepping closer, Phlox was startled by the sight before him. "Commander!" He recovered from the unexpected sight of Trip sprawled on the floor and rushed to his side.
"Commander, can you hear me?" The doctor touched Trip's neck, and finding a pulse, breathed a small sigh of relief. Carefully, he rolled the engineer onto his back, and then went to the bathroom to get a towel.
Phlox gently wiped most of the blood from Trip's face, shaking his head in dismay at seeing the laceration that ran from his scalp all the way down to his temple. At that moment, the doctor heard a faint moan. "Commander? Time to wake up."
Trip's eyes flickered open and he blinked, trying to focus on the doctor through bleary eyes. "Doc? What's going on?" he mumbled, not fully aware of his surroundings. Trip tried to sit up, but Phlox placed a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.
"Take it easy, Mr. Tucker. You've got quite a gash on your head." From somewhere unknown to Trip, Phlox produced a tricorder and began scanning. After a few moments he set it aside. "Sit up slowly," he instructed, placing a hand on Trip's arm in assistance.
Trip did as he was told, his back protesting all the way. Finally upright, he risked turning his head slightly. Bad move. The room started spinning and pain exploded behind his eyes. He sat still for a few moments and both the pain and dizziness subsided somewhat. As he stood, however, both returned with a vengeance and his vision blurred once again. Trip felt the dizziness begin to overwhelm him when Phlox gripped his arm firmly and guided him to the sofa.
"Thanks, Doc," Trip said quietly. He opened his eyes again to find his vision clearer. "Sorry about the mess. I think I must've tripped."
"As your nickname suggests is possible," Phlox commented with a slight smile.
"Yeah, just wait 'til Jon gets wind of this. I'll never hear the end of it. Seriously though, Doc. Give me a Band-Aid for the ol' noggin and I'll be out of your hair. In fact, I think I'll just sack out right here for the evenin'."
"I don't think so, Commander. I intend to fix up your 'noggin', which involves making sure you don't have a concussion. Then there is the matter of why you lost your footing in the first place, not to mention your shoulder..."
"How on earth did you..." Trip glanced at his bruised shoulder, which was covered by his shirt, then looked at Phlox suspiciously.
"Other than the fact that it's twice the size it should be and you cringe every time you move it?"
Trip sighed. The doctor did have a point. Several, he had to admit, even though he'd never admit it to anyone but himself. "I don't suppose playin' dead will make you go away any quicker either, will it?"
"Not likely. Besides, if you do that, the captain will no doubt ask questions when you don't show up for duty. I may then find myself in an unfortunate situation leaving me no alternative except to inform him that you 'tripped'."
Great, now he can blackmail me too, thought Trip. "Speaking of duty, give me two minutes to send my report to the Cap'n and then I'll let you run all the scans you need...as long as I get to sleep through 'em." Trip yawned, pulling himself to his feet and trying desperately to appear unaffected by the pain in his shoulder, back, and head. A short glance at the frown on Phlox's face told him he hadn't quite succeeded.
Sitting down heavily when he reached the computer terminal, Trip picked up a padd and punched a few buttons. After tapping a few more on the terminal itself, in a process that seemed to take forever, Trip leaned back in his chair. Sleep was suddenly irresistibly inviting, and he closed his eyes. The doc was going to...
"Come now, Commander. Stay awake for me a little while longer." Phlox put a hand on Trip's good shoulder, a concerned look on his face.
...become very annoying. Trip forced his eyes open.
"I let you have your two minutes against my better judgment, now it's time you keep your part of the bargain," the doctor reminded.
"Fine, but you'd better work fast, Doc. The Cap'n won't be very happy if this deal gets botched because I can't make it to the next meeting with Solead."
"You let me worry about Captain Archer. If he has a problem, he can take it up with me."
Trip looked at the Denobulan skeptically, but didn't carry the subject any further. He stood slowly, trying not to flinch when his back protested at straightening, and allowed Phlox to guide him to the door. They moved into the corridor, and Trip focused on walking in a straight line, while Phlox chattered about something or other that Trip didn't exactly find interesting at the moment. The engineer put one foot in front of the other, more out of habit rather than having an actual desire to go anywhere, and so he didn't notice just how weak his knees were becoming until the doctor was calling out to him.
"Commander?" Phlox's voice sounded distant, but for some reason Trip still responded, turning his head toward the voice.
Trip had just enough time to see the concerned look on the doctor's face and wonder why it was focused on him before a wave of nausea and dizziness hit him full force. He felt his knees buckle beneath him for the second time that day. I bet that's why he was looking at me like that, Trip thought as his world turned dark once again.

++++++++++

The engineer looked around. They were at the scheduled meeting spot, and Malcolm was with Jon across the clearing, taking scans of the area. Trip felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Solead holding a sword. He felt another tap from behind and craned his neck to see...Solead? Trip's head whipped back around to the front. Solead was there too.
"What the...Aah!" Trip cried out involuntarily as something was stabbed into his shoulder blade. He tried to wrench away from his attacker, but the Solead in front of him was suddenly gripping his shoulders, holding him back. His attacker stabbed him again, dead center on the spine.
In desperation, Trip brought his arm back to swing at the man holding onto him. Instantaneously, his shoulder literally burst into flames. As the pain from that completely...inconsistent...occurrence reached him, Trip dropped his arm, blinking away the tears that had come, unbidden, to his eyes. Another stab of pain went though his back. Solead was speaking to him, but Trip couldn't make out the words. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, angered and confused, and when he opened them again, he found himself in...sickbay?
None of it made sense. Dr. Phlox was standing in front of him, holding onto his shoulders. No. Solead had just been there. What was going on? Disoriented, Trip tried to scramble away, but Phlox didn't release his grip.
"Commander, it's all right. You were having a bad dream." The Denobulan medic gently held Trip's shoulders until the engineer stopped thrashing and finally focused on him.
"You call that a dream?" Trip gasped.
"I assure you that's all it was. You still haven't been sleeping regularly, and hitting your head hasn't helped with your nightmares, I'm certain," Phlox said quietly.
Just then, another stab of pain raced through Trip's back. "Not to question your diagnosis, Doc, but if that was all just a bad dream, then why's m' back feel like it's in a vice and m' shoulder like it's bein' roasted over the coals?" Trip's face was contorted, his expression a quite accurate display of what he was feeling.
Phlox picked up a scanner. After passing it over Trip, he frowned thoughtfully.
"What did you find?" Trip asked.
"I'm not exactly certain, Commander. I will need to run more tests. This could be a contributing factor to why you passed out before."
"Yeah, what happened anyway?" Trip asked as his breathing normalized.
"I was telling you of my desert tar snake's difficulties in adapting to sickbay's climate when you lost consciousness. From the scans I performed while you were unconscious, the cause of your blackout is the rather serious concussion you suffered when you hit your head in your quarters. However, these scans I've just taken are not consistent." Phlox moved to a cart, and rummaged through its contents for a moment. He returned shortly to Trip and injected him with the hypospray.
"What was that?"
"A muscle relaxant and mild anti-inflammatory," Phlox said. He eased Trip back onto the biobed. "That should take the edge off the spasms. Try to get some rest. I'll come back and check on you after I've had a chance to go over these scans a bit more."
Trip nodded, watching Phlox disappear into his office. He was suddenly quite drowsy and suspected as he drifted off that Phlox's 'muscle relaxant' had contained something extra.

++++++++++

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, Trip glanced around, coming to remember the events of the last few hours. Shifting slightly, he was pleased to find that his back was no longer cramped as badly as it had been. He was pondering getting up when Phlox entered.
"Ah, Commander, you're awake," Phlox said a little too cheerfully for Trip with his still-aching head.
"Yeah. What time is it anyway?"
"1215 hours," Phlox said without a glance to his chronometer. Apparently, he'd expected the question.
"I've gotta get to the bridge. The Cap'n will want advice in dealing with Solead." The engineer actually made it to a sitting position before Phlox objected.
"You're not going anywhere just yet, Mr. Tucker. I'm not finished treating your injuries, and I'm also not yet satisfied that I know what's going on with your back. Did you not advice Captain Archer in the report you sent earlier?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then I'm sure he will forgive your absence from the bridge. How is your back, while we're on the topic?"
Trip let out a defeated sigh. "Better than before. Whatever ya gave me worked wonders."
"Don't give it too much credit until I've finished my next round of tests, Commander. I must tell you that after going over my scans, I have never seen as many muscle groups contract at the same moment as your back did a little while ago. To say the least it is curious, but we will hopefully know more in a while. If you will remove your shirt, I'll fix up your shoulder and then we can get to work on the rest of those scans."
"Sure thing." Trip started taking off his shirt, and very quickly realized he was going to have a problem. "Uh, Doc?" Trip said sheepishly. "I think I'm stuck."
Phlox chuckled. "I would be quite surprised if you weren't a little less agile than usual at the moment, but I think we'll have you back crawling through Jeffries tubes in fairly short order. From what I saw earlier, it's probably nothing more serious than some strained muscles and bruising, but...oh my." Phlox had been chattering the entire time he was preparing his equipment, so he was quite startled when he got a good look at the engineer's shoulder.
"What's the matter?" Trip turned his head to try to see whatever Phlox was looking at, but only succeeded in making his neck hurt.
"Well, these certainly weren't here before."
"Huh?"
"You have some fairly severe burns on your shoulder that appear secondary to the bruising, but they most certainly weren't here when I scanned you before."
"Well, I can assure ya nothin' burned me, so unless my nightmares are comin' true, there's something very odd goin' on here."
"I would have to agree. I'll compare these scans to the ones of your back. It's possible there's a correlation, though I'm not sure what it is at the moment. This is probably going to sting a little," Phlox warned as he began to cleanse the burns with antiseptic.
"Ya sure do...have a gift...for understatement, Doc," Trip said through clenched teeth. "Are ya sure that's not acid?"
"Quite, Commander. That most certainly wouldn't be a sound treatment for this injury." Phlox put away the antiseptic and bandaged the burns. The Denobulan studied Trip's face for a moment, which had become decidedly pale since he'd begun his work. By the time he had the sling in place, 'pale' was hardly a sufficient term. "There, that should do it," he announced, then helped Trip to lie down again.
"What about the other scans?"
"Give yourself a few minutes to relax, Commander. I'll bring you something for the pain."
Trip wanted to protest, but he felt too drained to do more than nod. He'd give himself five minutes to make Phlox happy, but then they were going to get to the bottom of all this. His eyes drifted closed and his mind started sifting through the work that was ahead while he waited for Phlox to return.

++++++++++

The doctor returned to Trip's side to find the engineer asleep, and he injected the contents of the hypospray into Trip's neck and placed an ice pack around his shoulder. He checked Trip's vitals once more before returning to his office, pleased to see they were stabilizing.
It was some time later that Phlox looked up from his screen when he heard the doors to sickbay slide open. He'd been searching through his scans for some explanation for the burns that had appeared on Trip's shoulder, but so far had found none. Phlox stood up from his desk as Captain Archer entered the office.
"Where's Trip?" Archer asked, lines of concern evident on his face. "When he didn't respond to the comm I had T'Pol locate him using internal sensors."
"This way, Captain," Phlox said, motioning for Archer to follow him. "The Commander had a bit of an accident. I would have informed you earlier, but I was waiting until I could provide you with a more conclusive diagnosis."
"Diagnosis of what?" Archer asked with a frown as he saw Trip's bandaged temple and immobilized shoulder.
"The Commander has been having severe back spasms, which were apparently the cause of him falling in his quarters, in turn causing the concussion. Prior to that, a packing container hit him in the shoulder while he was working in the cargo bay, causing the injury to his shoulder. Suffice it to say he is not having a good day. These incidents do not, however, explain the burns on his shoulder. I believe that the burns and spasms are in some way related, but I have yet to ascertain how. Have you or Mr. Reed experienced anything out of the ordinary since your return from the planet?"
"I can't speak for Malcolm, but I haven't had any unusual symptoms."
Phlox nodded.
"Can I talk to him?" Archer asked, gesturing to Trip.
Phlox shook his head. "The Commander is sleeping without the aid of a sedative or neuro-pressure for the first time in weeks. This suggests to me that his body is exhausted. Unless it is an emergency, I must deny your request, Captain. He needs to rest."
"A second meeting has been set up with Solead..." Archer began, attempting to explain their predicament to Phlox.
"What time, Cap'n?" Both Archer and Phlox turned in Trip's direction, surprised to see him looking at them.
"Hey, Trip. How're you feeling?" Jon asked, moving closer to his friend.
"Been better, been worse."
"We've set up another meeting with Solead for 1530 hours to discuss our deal to purchase the C-28. You think you're up for it?"
"Anything for C-28," Trip said, using his good arm to push himself into a sitting position.
"Not so fast. You're in no condition to be going on an away mission, Commander."
"It's nothin' stressful, Doc. I ride down there in the shuttle, take a few scans of the C-28, and make sure it's safe for travel. Someone else loads it up and we're back here before ya know it."
"Which is why I don't see any reason that one of your engineers can't go on the mission in your place."
"For the reason that I've got a feelin' this deal ain't gonna happen if I'm not along for the ride. Solead said I'd be needed at this meeting, and I think he meant me personally. Guess the man needs the heat of controversy to do business by."
Archer nodded in agreement. "It's just for an hour or so, Phlox. He can last it that long, can't he? If we weren't in such urgent need of this shielding, I wouldn't be pressing this."
Phlox sighed. "In his present condition, Commander Tucker would most likely be able to last for that amount of time if he doesn't experience any more spasms or complications from his concussion. I can't guarantee that he won't, however, and since I don't understand the cause of all this yet, I feel much more comfortable being able to monitor his condition."
"How about a compromise, Doctor? We'll bring an engineering team with us to do the scans of the C-28. Trip can stay in the shuttlepod unless Solead insists upon his presence, or if we absolutely need his expertise to safely complete the transaction. You can monitor his vitals through the shuttlepod's internal sensors," Jon finished, tossing a sideward glance toward Trip.
"My thoughts exactly," Trip said, giving Phlox a grin.
"Why do I already regret this?" Phlox replied, shaking his head resignedly.

TBC...