Chapter Twenty-Three: Recovery
Archer sat in his chair, observing his bridge crew. It had been three days since…he couldn't even bear to think of it. There was no funeral procession or excessive mourning, only a simple statement; a statement that he himself found very hard to give. But, as the captain, he had to. It was a statement mentioning the unfortunate and announcing the promotion of Lieutenant Hubbert. If anything, Archer did not want to be in the lieutenant's shoes at the moment.
He watched Hoshi and remembered when she was coming to, slowly healing from the virus. He entered sickbay, bearing news he wished he didn't have. She turned away from him then, and he wanted so much to hear something, if even an angry shout; anything, to know how she felt.
"Damn!"
Archer broke from his thoughts. "What's wrong?"
"It's my console, sir. It doesn't seem to be functioning properly."
"Maybe we should get Lieutenant Hubbert—" The second he mentioned the lieutenant's name, Archer wished he could take it back.
"No," Hoshi said, abruptly. "I think I can handle this myself." She hit her console a few times.
"I believe that is enough, Ensign. Take a break," T'Pol said from her station.
Hoshi glared at T'Pol. "Are you saying I can't do my job?"
"I merely meant that with all the…stress you've been under, you deserve much needed rest."
"I assure you, Sub-Commander, I am capable of doing my job."
"As the Science Officer, I know what is needed."
"How dare you shove your pompous attitude in my face," Hoshi snapped. "I don't need any of your stupid, and I mean stupid, advice. Just because you stay on a starship full of humans does not make you able to judge what we need or don't need—"
"Enough!" Archer cut in. "Hoshi, you are dismissed from the bridge." She looked at him in disbelief. "That's an order, Ensign."
Hoshi walked to the lift. He knew she was angry; but he didn't know how to help her. Wasn't this the reason protocols refused officers to become involved with each other?