ACT FOUR
Captain Archer was dying.
His heart had stopped twice in the two minutes since Phlox had managed to wedge him into the cramped lifeboat, once more while the doctor was working to fix the damage, and had entered a state of ventricular tachycardia for the last thirty seconds. The reason was obvious: feedback from the exploding Science board had given the captain a massive electrical shock, short-circuiting his heart's electrical conduction systems and causing an immediate and life-threatening series of cardiac arrhythmias. To further complicate matters, numerous pieces of shrapnel had lodged themselves dangerously close to the aorta, forcing Phlox to open the captain's chest and remove them before he could turn to normalizing Archer's cardiac rhythm. The cardiac arrhythmias were the most urgent problem, but the difficulty of Phlox's task was compounded by Archer's skeletal injuries: multiple crushed ribs, a broken clavicle and a skull fracture. Armed with little more than a laser scalpel, a hand-held surgical kit and rapidly dwindling positive thoughts, the doctor grimly bent his efforts to saving Archer's life.
He just wished Enterprise would stop shaking.
At his side, Sergeant Amanda Cole was feverishly trying to reinflate Lieutenant Sato's left lung with the minimal supplies they had, grumbling under her breath the entire time about being a soldier and not a medic. Cool and efficient, she had become Phlox's favorite assistant (MACO or otherwise) and had displayed a singular talent with her fingers that the Denobulan could not help but to admire; on numerous occasions, he had admitted to himself that he even preferred her company over that of Lieutenant Reyes, who was a trained physician. In his opinion, Amanda was completely wasted as a MACO; she had the hands of a surgeon and the temperament of a healer even if she tried to hide it behind a gruff soldier's exterior. Phlox had already tempted fate by forwarding a polite but strong recommendation to MACO Headquarters regarding Sergeant Cole's future without addressing it with her; as a favor, Archer had personally delivered the official letter to General Raleigh, the MACO Chief of Staff, at their last stop on Earth.
"All hands, proceed to lifeboats immediately." Lieutenant Commander Reed's voice echoed throughout the ship, strong and confident, and Phlox was momentarily amazed at the human ability to compartmentalize; he knew of the relationship between Reed and Lieutenant Sato, knew the sort of mental anguish Reed had to be going through at this very moment, not knowing if the mother of his unborn child was living or dead. And yet, just from listening, he could not tell if Reed was even concerned or worried; sometimes the dour tactical officer was better than T'Pol at concealing his emotions. "Four minutes to core ejection." Enterprise shuddered again, the hollow clang of weapons fire against the hull echoing throughout the vessel. His balance abruptly lost, Phlox's hand slipped ever so slightly.
The laser sliced cleanly through one of the coronary arteries.
Cole heard his gasp of dismay, glanced over at him even as bright red arterial blood shot from the incision, splattering his face and chest. He reacted quickly, setting aside the scalpel and grabbing the resealer from the surgical kit; reprogramming it with one thumb, he set about repairing the damage wrought by the errant cut. He wondered what Doctor Lucas would say when he told him about this: emergency heart surgery on the captain in a lifepod beside a reluctant MACO medic who was clearly gifted with a healer's hands. It sounded suspiciously like the plot of one of the films that Commander Tucker would play on Movie Night; of course, if this were one of those ancient films, the dramatic music would swell at any moment and the scene would fade to black.
That almost brought a smile to his face.
"Use the tri-laser connector," he said abruptly, noting that Cole was pulling a sonic separator from the surgical kit; she glanced briefly at him but obeyed his suggestion. His eyes returned to his own patient, realizing the repairs were going to be more difficult than he expected - the shrapnel had proved to be elusive to locate and even the use of the magnetic extractor had not prevented additional damage from occurring. He frowned; it was an expression that appeared out of place on his normally jovial face. It appeared that he would need the TL connector as well.
"Need this?" Amanda asked, handing him the connector before he could ask for it. He gave her a grin as he reconnected the severed artery but the smile barely touched his eyes; there had been too much death today, too many young men and women who were gone because he couldn't save them. Like Chief Rostov or Lieutenant Mackenzie or Petty Officer Novakovich.
Phlox realized that he was tired. Tired of serving on a starship. Tired of seeing so many youngsters lost because he was slowing down. He missed research for the sheer love of it, missed the sheer wonder of discovery.
He felt old.
Amanda's grumbles were starting to die off and Phlox risked a glance at her work, noting with significant pride that she had restored Sato's breathing and was even now sealing up the incision. He could not have done a better job.
"Doctor?" Cole's voice was soft, hesitant; from her tone, he knew what she was going to say. "I couldn't help but to notice that Lieutenant Sato is..."
"Pregnant," Phlox finished as he used the cardiostimulator to restart Archer's heart a fourth time. "I'm impressed, Amanda. She's barely six weeks along and most medics would not have noticed that." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her blush. He always found it amusing that she was so embarrassed by his praise; it made him wonder what sort of household she had grown up in and if that had influenced her decision to join the MACOs.
"Three minutes to core ejection." Archer's heart began working again and and Phlox quickly used a hypo of cordrazine on the man; it would stabilize his blood pressure and hopefully keep him from going into arrest again until there was time to do more than just 'patch' work. At the same time, he made a mental note to speak with the captain about his diet later - he had detected hints of atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries during his earliest scan of the captain, clearly from consumption of too much animal fat and far too few vegetables. It was a conversation he was looking forward to having, the doctor realized; the expression on the captain's face when he was ordered to eat salad would be priceless. That thought cheered him more than he would have thought possible.
"It was on the scanner, sir." The Denobulan almost smiled; yes, her pregnancy had been on the diagnostic scanner but the fetus was hardly of any size to warrant notice. Except to healers. Or MACOs who should be healers.
"Indeed it was," he replied as he began closing up his incision; as long as he didn't suffer any more massive electrical shocks, Archer should be fine. For now. Enterprise shook again, the force of the shudder knocking the emergency kit to the floor of the lifeboat with a loud crash; neither of them even reacted. "Did the fetus sustain any damage?" He prayed that it hadn't; no parent should ever lose a child. That line of thinking immediately brought Commanders T'Pol and Tucker to mind and he found himself hoping they were safe; with Tucker's record, however...
"Not that I could see, sir." She began shifting the unconscious Sato, strapping her into the acceleration couch of the lifepod. "Does she know?"
"Lieutenant Sato is aware of her condition." The incision was sealed. He already knew where Amanda's thoughts were going; Enterprisehad been in deep space for the last two months, after all.
"Is Commander Reed?" That was brazen of her, guessing the identity of the father, but Phlox could not help but to smile. They were remarkably alike, he mused. Perhaps that was why his alternate on Lorian's Enterprise had married her.
"Help me get Captain Archer strapped in," was his only reply.
"Two minutes to core ejection," Commander Reed announced and Phlox drew a deep breath, his eyes locked on Archer and his mind on his handiwork.
He hoped it was enough.
