12
Welcome to Sickbay
Trina Mann felt a knot form in her stomach at the foreboding radio silence from the ship. Louvier's stand by request unsettled her. She was about to tap the transmit button but changed her mind at the last second; just like she'd done three times before. "Come on," she whispered through clenched teeth.
"Enterprise to Lieutenant Mann, we have them," the chief engineer replied with relief. "Good old doc just whisked them away to sickbay."
The chief of security let out a quivering breath. "Thank heavens," she whispered and then carefully added. "Are they alive?"
The channel turned silent for a moment and when the Frenchman spoke up again, he sounded unnaturally somber, almost perplexed. "I think you'd better getter back here as soon as possible."
Trina smirked, not knowing what to make of that statement, it didn't sound good. "Yes, commander," she replied and killed the connection.
Ta'Rex Da Od frowned at her. "I would be very interested to know what that was all about?" he said seriously.
Mann turned to him in disbelief. "What it was all about?" she echoed. "My commanding officer is probably dying on the operating table right as we speak because I failed to protect him from the dangers lurking on your planet!"
Ta'Rex Da Od stiffened at the petite young woman's accusation. "That's not what I meant and you know it," he retorted. "You came in a shuttle but you obviously have other means to reach the surface of this planet."
Trina tilted her head upwards defiantly to look him in the eye. "Thank you for the tour but I am afraid I must leave immediately. I need to find my pilot and get back to the Copernicus."
"Your captain should have enlightened my chancellor of this means to travel. It could be a threat to planet security," Ta'Rex Da Od pointed out coldly.
"Your planet offers adventure, relaxation and luxury. You claim that it is safe here," she replied, her voice equally cold. "Now, you'll have to excuse me. I need to return to my ship."
Ta'Rex Da Od sighed in exasperation. He had no idea why the mysterious savages would want to target these Starfleet people directly unless-. He shook his head. No, they couldn't be old acquaints from before, or could they? He broached that particular subject with the chancellor earlier – maybe he should bring that up again? His mood darkened as he began to make his way back to the main plaza and the government, wondering what to say to the chancellor.
OOOOOO
Spock cocked an eyebrow as he studied the small, somewhat frail, body of a younger woman, laying cooped up on a biobed before him. "Fascinating," he remarked as he clasped his hands behind his back.
"I don't find it fascinating at all," Boyce said grumpily as he passed the Vulcan, on his way toward Una.
The Vulcan Science Directory have always believed there are races who possess healing powers capable of this level of preservation."
"Preservation?" Boyce echoed dryly. "Look at them. Tell me the reason as to why Chris won't wake up if he's healed? Tell me how I can be sure of our new friend's survival?"
"Go easy on him, Phil," Una cautioned. "He's young and inexperienced."
Spock merely ignored the banter between his colleagues, deeming it irrelevant.
"Doctor, may I remind you of the encounter with the Araxians the captain and I had while onboard the USS Discovery?" he pointed out patiently. During our assignment to deduce the meaning and origin of the seven red signals we travelled to Arax VI."
Phil involuntarily shuddered at hearing the name of the planet as it had turned out that they were the ones responsible for nearly blowing the Enterprise out of the sky a few years earlier. Besides, he and Chris had already broached the subject earlier.
"The point here, lieutenant," Boyce began, "-is that the definition of an empath in the human society stretches as far as to say that it is a very sensitive being – not that it can literally take a bullet for someone else, or heal such extensive injuries such as the one's Captain Pike sustained."
"I am well aware of the definition of an empath," Spock protested mildly. "An empath is a supersensitive person who has the ability to sense thoughts and/or feelings of others in their vicinity. They are emotionally intelligent and perceptive to pain, for instance, they tend to take on the agony of others in order to shield them from harm."
"I do have to agree with Phil," Una said softly. "This woman, who I am very grateful too at the moment, have abilities beyond being an empath."
Louvier stepped forward and nodded toward the alien doctor who stood to the side, guarded by one of Mann's security officers. "I bet he knows a thing or two."
"Indeed," Spock concurred. "May I suggest that we relocate to a conference room?"
OOOOOO
Una was abruptly brought out of her slumber as Chris shot up from his flat position on the biobed opposite her and gasped, his eyes wild.
She blinked several times, trying to clear her mind from the haze of pain. In the chaos that ensued she wasn't sure which medical alarms belonged to her biobed and which belonged to her captain's. There were so many chirping sounds that it rang in her ears.
"Chris," she called worriedly. "Chris?"
He was panting as he raised his upper body forward and almost folded himself on the bed, his legs still straight. He tried to take calming breaths as he tried to orient himself.
"Captain," Doctor M'Benga called kindly. "It's all right. You are back onboard the Enterprise; in sickbay."
Chris closed his eyes briefly and swallowed, his mouth dry. He suddenly felt hands on his shoulders.
"Captain," the young doctor said. "I need you to relax, take some calming breaths and lay back down again. Can you do that for me?"
Chris opened his eyes to come face to face with a troubled doctor and a concerned Nurse Giles. "What," he began hoarsely. "Una?"
"I'm here, Chris," she called from across the room.
He felt relief flowing through his body as he saw her and gave her a faint nod. "Are you all right?"
"I am getting there," she assured him and winced as she shifted position.
"Doctor M'Benga, what are Number One's injuries?" he asked.
The young doctor didn't reply as he continued to assess the captain's condition.
Chris let out a quivering breath. He was suddenly cold yet he felt the heat radiating off his skin. He had no recollection of what had happened after he fell off that cliff and he had absolutely no clue about how he could still be alive.
"Let's focus on you first, sir," Nurse Giles replied. "How are you feeling?"
He glanced down his uniform and stared at the bloodstained bright yellow garment. He let his eyes roam over the black pants and found there was a long gash on his thigh but the exposed skin wasn't injured. "Why don't you tell me?" he finally managed, confusion written all over his face.
"Well-," M'Benga hesitated for a moment and took a minute to make sure the readings, displayed above and beyond the captain's bed, was within normal parameters. "I can't see anything wrong with your vitals other than a slightly raised pulse and blood pressure."
Pike frowned. For the second time since the accident, he took notice of his yellow uniform tunic, the torn seams, the holes in the fabric and the dried blood. Mesmerized, he carefully lifted his right hand to look closer at his right sleeve. "I don't remember much," he said in a subdued voice.
Doctor M'Benga followed his gaze to the uniform sleeve. "What do you remember, captain?" he asked kindly.
Something dark clouded the usually bright blue eyes as he straightened and turned to focus on the young doctor. "Klingons," he replied seriously. "Four of them, attacking us without reason. They wanted to pick a fight – four to two – we gave them one."
Una chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah, we did," she concurred.
"The Klingon's strength took me by surprise. He tossed me over the edge-," he recalled slowly as he tilted his head upwards to look at the doctor and his nurse. "That's pretty much it."
M'Benga nodded thoughtfully. "Then you have no recollection of what she did to you," he deduced as he looked across the room and a few beds down the line next to Una.
"What she did," Pike echoed as he followed the doctor's gaze to a bed occupied by a petite woman.
Una smirked. "Some obviously have all the luck," she remarked dryly but her tone of voice was filled with relief and warmth that contradicted her nonchalant statement. In truth, she cared deeply for Chris.
The captain slowly rose into a sitting position again and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Sir," Doctor M'Benga cautioned disapprovingly.
However, Pike didn't care as he walked across the room to stand between his XO and the young woman from the planet. "It's the woman from the Biosphere," he said. "I think her name is Teelar."
Una had had a lot on her mind, the injuries had taken their toll on her and the worry for Chris' wellbeing but now as she followed his gaze, she instantly made the connection. "Of course," she concurred in a subdued voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it before."
"What is wrong with her?" the captain asked in concern.
"We don't know, sir. But it appears that she is healing herself. I don't know how this is supposed to work but she is slowly stabilizing; has been for the last couple of hours. Doctor Boyce have been running every possible test, to make sure we aren't missing anything," M'Benga informed him.
Chris narrowed his eyes as he turned back to the medically trained man. "Hours," he echoed. "Wait a minute. How long has it been since we were beamed back onboard?"
"Five hours – give or take a few minutes," The young doctor replied kindly. "Can you please get back to your biobed, sir?"
For some reason he felt compelled to gently scratch his head, next to his right temple, and frowned in surprise as his fingers came away with dried blood. He gently prodded the area but found no wound beneath the sticky hair. "How's Una?" he tried again, still wanting an answer to his earlier question.
M'Benga nodded at her as he pursed his lips into a thin line of displeasure. "Number One was brought in here with a fractured cheekbone, a crack in her skull, a dislocated left shoulder and two broken ribs. She had suffocating marks around her neck; some displacement of nerves in her back temporarily paralyzed her from the waist and downwards -," he reported dutifully.
Pike involuntarily shuddered at the long list of injuries and gave his XO a faint but genuine relieved smile. "I'm glad you're still with us."
Una tutted. "Says the man who actually got mortally injured by a Bat'leth, fell off a cliff and probably broke another thing or two before he ended up on a rocky beach," she drawled.
'Beach,' Chris thought. 'That made sense.' He recalled the sound of lapping waves.
Trina Mann halted in mid-step as the door to sickbay closed behind her. Enterprise's XO lay on a biobed dressed in a gown, her beautiful face pale and bruised. Captain Pike, amazingly, stood next to Una while Doctor M'Benga seemed ready to drag him somewhere by the arm.
"Sir," she said with a mix of relief and despair as she took in the ruined uniform that looked like something taken out of a costume ball for Halloween. "I am so sorry. I should have-,"
Pike held up his hand to stall her and managed a small, tight dimpled smile, hoping it looked reassuring. "Should have done what, lieutenant?" he asked kindly. "You weren't there."
"Exactly, sir. I should have been able to find them before they found you."
Pike turned serious as he studied the young woman before him. "You have to stop blaming yourself. You can't be protecting everyone all the time."
She gave a low frustrated snort. "But, sir, I failed to protect my commanding officers," she pointed out.
Una shrugged. Looking like it was no big deal. "There's nothing more refreshing than a fistfight with a Klingon and his sharp Bat'leth," she offered crankily yet very kindly to the younger woman. Una knew exactly how Trina Mann felt at the moment. She had experienced something similar a few years ago.
Trina appreciated the commander's words of encouragement as well as the captain's but she still felt she was to blame for several things. She raked a hand through her hair and sighed, then looked from the ship's XO to the ship's captain. "I am afraid I revealed information about the transporters to the chief of planetary security," she reported.
"You and me both then," Una replied.
For a moment Trina looked confused, then she remembered seeing a Circusian holding up a communicator. "Yes, we saw you – albeit with several minutes delay."
Una turned to Chris with a troubled expression on her face. "Chancellor Ta'Bob Bobba Dus knows about Doctor Ov'Da Bob Da," she deduced.
"I don't actually think they have the beaming on the recording," Mann reasoned. "I only know you made it back safely because Louvier called me."
At Chris's curious expression Una explained what had happened after he'd fallen off the edge of the cliff.
"So, we have two Circusians onboard the ship," he concluded.
"Yes, the doctor is trying to explain how this young woman was able to save your life, captain," Una replied softly as her eyes strayed over to the unconscious form a few biobeds away.
"I'll join them," Chris stated firmly, his lips pursed into a thin line.
Doctor M'Benga stepped directly into his path. "I beg for you to reconsider, sir," he began kindly yet his tone was firm and steady. "I am hesitant to release you before all the tests have come back."
Chris softened, he knew the young doctor was only trying to do his job and he also knew, full well, that he should obey him, given the state he was in. It was just that, as long as he was able to walk, talk and function without too much difficulty, he could not be still and do nothing.
"I appreciate your concern doctor but if something should happen to me, I am sure I'll have all medical expertise I need in the room," he pointed out.
It was clear M'Benga didn't like the arrangement but he nodded anyway and let the captain pass.
OOOOOO
12/24
