9
"No!"
Before Archer could even get his body to react, Reed was already crouched on the ground next to her. His cry hung on the air, sounding like that of a wounded animal. He slid his hands out of the ropes as his eyes flicked from her face to her side, trying to assess her injury without the aid of a scanner.
I think the blade needs to come out, but not before there's a bandage handy. "Trip, the medkit!"
In a flash Trip was next to him, opening the kit and tossing the scanner to Reed. Once Reed nodded that her airway was clear, Trip took out an oxygen mask and pressed it to her face. The inside of the mask began to fog up slightly, reassuring them that she was indeed breathing. "Can you... ?"
Reed found the pressure gauze right away. He held it in one hand, taking hold of the dagger with his other and preparing to pull it out. He didn't look up for an instant. "I can handle it, sir, but would you be kind enough to help the captain take care of the guards? My hands are a little full at the moment."
Trip nodded but grasped Reed's arm before he stood up, looking intently into the other man's worried eyes. "Take care of her, Malcolm. Here." He took out his communicator and opened it, holding it out to the other man. "Get Phlox to talk you through it, just in case…" His mouth twitched nervously as he trailed off.
Just in case you don't know what you're doing. Reed nodded curtly and Trip left his field of vision, heading back to stand with Archer as the lieutenant got to work.
His fingers tensed on the hilt as he steeled himself to draw the blade out of her side, but then he stopped and shook his head. I have to be sure about this. He let go of the blade and reached for the communicator. "Lieutenant Reed to Enterprise."
Less than a second passed before Subcommander T'Pol's voice answered his hail. "Go ahead, Lieutenant. Has your situation improved since the captain hailed us?"
He let out a quiet, frustrated breath. There's no time for this! "The captain released us from the cell, but we've run into some trouble. I need to speak with Doctor Phlox right away."
A brief, tense silence, then "has someone been injured?"
He stole a glance at his friend, lying on the ground beside him. "Yes."
She was still breathing, which reassured him, but she hadn't moved at all and she was still unconscious. A few trickles of blood had collected on her skin around the dagger and the bleeding didn't seem too serious, but his scans showed that she was also bleeding internally. "Ensign Olenick has been stabbed."
Somehow saying it aloud made the situation more real, which in turn made him even more stressed than he already was. The silence from the other end of the communication didn't help at all. He imagined Travis and Hoshi sitting at their stations on the bridge, looking shocked...
T'Pol's unnervingly even voice broke into his thoughts. "Understood, Lieutenant. I'll put you through to Sickbay."
He nodded. "Thank you. Doctor? Are you there? I need you to talk me through what I have to do. I'm transmitting data from the medical scanner now."
To his relief, he heard Phlox's voice come through. "I'm here, Lieutenant. The scans are coming up on my screen. Hmm... It looks like the blade is lodged in her sixth intercostal space and has lacerated part of her liver and right kidney. Her respiration and pulse look good, and she doesn't seem to have lost too much blood so far. Have you removed the weapon?"
Reed shook his head. "Not yet. I was just about to..."
"No!" The urgency in Phlox's voice startled him. "Pressure from the knife is keeping the bleeding in check. If you remove it now, she may not make it back alive. You need to stabilize the knife so it won't injure her further when she has to be moved."
"Alright," Reed said, quickly moving his hand away from the dagger hilt. "So how should I do that?"
"Just pack gauze around the blade and tape it in place. It will hold the knife steady for the time being and provide additional pressure to slow the bleeding. Also, you have to reduce the chances of infection."
Reed felt his heart suddenly lift. "I know how to do that."
The guards still loyal to Lorrister had rounded on Rostin's men and were standing with the Starfleet officers. All hell broke loose around him, but all Reed saw, all he heard, was the task at hand. He found a pair of scissors in the kit, sealed in a sterile bag, and cut the pressure bandage into smaller pieces. Quickly but carefully, he cut away the torn fabric around the site of the wound, next cleaning the area and applying a salve to the gauze to prevent an infection. Finally, he pressed the gauze to her side and began bandaging it securely. He held the small gauze pad in place with one hand, holding a roll of medical tape in the other as he tore off a length of it with his teeth.
He smoothed tape across one edge of the gauze, pulling so the bandage pressed firmly against one side of the blade. "Damn... I hope I'm doing this correctly..." he muttered to himself.
"I'm sure you are."
Startled by her voice, he looked over to see that she was squinting up at him. Once he'd seen her face, she let her head drop back to the ground, where it landed with a dull thump. "Did you apply the coagulating agent? It'd help slow the bleeding... Sir, can you hear me?" Her voice was just above a strained whisper.
"Uh, yes, Ensign. Where is the coagulant?"
She blinked, trying to focus on part of the ceiling instead of on what Reed was doing. "Tube in the kit. Says 'coagulant' on it."
Reed shook his head, smiling as he looked inside the kit. She's being cheeky. Well, that's good, at least. "Right. Found it. So... here, I'll just put it on the underside of the gauze, then."
He lifted an edge he hadn't taped in place yet and applied some of the sticky gel to the gauze. As he squeezed the tube, he looked at the underside of the bandage and was shocked by what he saw. The gauze was almost completely soaked through with blood.
"Damn..." he swore softly, shaking his head. I'll need to put more gauze on top of the existing bandage... Can I even do that? Is that proper procedure?
Phlox chimed in. "You're doing fine, Lieutenant. If it bleeds through, just tape on another layer of gauze. Don't replace the first bandage."
He nodded in relief, grabbing more gauze pads from the kit and taping them in place. It certainly helps to have someone around who knows this stuff. "How are you holding up, Ensign?"
She let her head fall to the side, resting a cheek on the ground as she took in the chaos around them. "Oh, 'm great" she slurred. "Bleeding from a stab wound, lying helpless in the middle of a battlefield, an being a liability. How're you?"
No answer.
There were sounds of a struggle nearby, but she'd assumed that Reed wasn't one of the people involved in it.
Maybe he answered but I didn't hear him.
"Sir?" she tried to raise her voice, but the words just came out as a feeble croak. His hand wasn't pressing down on her bandage anymore and she was dimly aware of her right arm lifting itself up, moving towards her injury to apply the needed pressure. "You alright?"
"Ensign?" She heard Phlox's voice coming from the communicator, but she couldn't see where Reed had put it. "What's wrong?"
She hesitantly looked around. "Reed's gone. I dunno where..."
Phlox sounded worried. "Ensign? Ensign, I can barely hear you. Did you say the lieutenant left you by yourself?"
She groped around for the communicator. Not finding it, she tried to speak up so that Phlox could hear her. "He's gone..."
Trying to raise her voice prompted a few harsh coughs which made the sharp, throbbing pain in her side increase tenfold. It hurt so much that she could barely think straight. When her mind finally cleared, she realized that Reed still hadn't answered her. She stared up at the ceiling, trying to make some sense of that.
Why wouldn't he answer? He wouldn't not answer, unless something happened that stopped him.
Blinking, she lifted her head to see what was going on. At first she didn't see anything except for dim shapes moving around at the edges of the room.
Fighting. People, and they're all fighting. But where's Reed?
She turned her head, looking for him and starting to get worried. Then she saw them. They were less than three meters away, so she was surprised it had taken her so long to spot them. One of the guards had Reed in a headlock, but a second later Reed flipped the man over his shoulder and onto the ground. Looking at the ground, she saw scuffmarks moving away from her.
So when the guard attacked Reed he tried to draw the fight away from me. She smiled. Nice of him. He's nice... she shook herself. No, I can't drift off to la-la land. Not yet. If I'm on my own, I've gotta be able to think straight.
She took a moment to brace herself, and then, before she lost her nerve, she inhaled deeply. It felt like she was being run through again, but the pain woke her up.
The guard was larger than Reed and looked like more than a match for him, but she knew that the armory officer was skilled in hand-to-hand combat. However, the guard was forcing Reed back towards her by putting his weight behind every hit and punch he threw.
When the two of them were only a few steps away from her, Jean recognized the guard. He was one of the brutes from down in the cells, the one who'd tried to force himself on her.
Give 'im hell, sir.
She smiled when Reed landed a double kick to the man's chest and noticed the expression on her superior's face. It was the look of concentration he usually wore during a fight, but something else was there too. A glimmer of uncharacteristic satisfaction in his eye, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth each time he dealt the other man a blow.
He must've recognized the guard too. And now he's avenging my honor or something. I hope he doesn't get sloppy...
The guard stumbled back a step after receiving two kicks and a punch. Reed was about to rush him again, to go for another hit, when he heard a low, confused voice behind him.
"Sir... why do hand-to-hand when you've got a phase pistol?"
Reed blinked and shook his head very slightly, simultaneously amused and annoyed at himself.
I forgot all about it. Must've been the adrenaline.
The guard used this momentary distraction as an opportunity to grasp Reed by the throat with a meaty hand.
Reed reached down to remove the phase pistol from it's holster while trying to pry the guard's fingers away from his neck with his other hand. Reed's skillful fingers felt the sides of the phase pistol, trying to determine without looking down whether it was set to 'stun' or 'kill.'
If it isn't set on stun the captain will have my head... not that it'll matter if this brute chokes me first.
Gently curving metal passed under his fingertips as he searched its surface. It was smooth and cool to the touch, its evenness only interrupted by a few small notches surrounding the end of the barrel and further back, on the left side...
There you are. Nub tilted forward means it is set to stun. Now then...
He held the phase pistol alongside his hip as he squeezed the trigger, hitting his assailant squarely in the gut. Reed allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction when the hand on his throat fell away. A surprised look crossed the other man's face just before he crumpled to the ground. As soon as he was sure that the man was alive and unconscious Reed stood up and did a slow turn, scanning the room for problem spots.
A sudden movement by one of the doors caught his eye. Seconds later the two guards were lying on the floor on either side of the door, unconscious, as Reed moved on to his next targets.
Many of the guards were still fighting each other, but he couldn't tell which men were loyal to Lorrister from far away and he didn't want to accidentally stun any of their allies. He turned further and saw that Archer was backed up against a wall trying to fight off three guards. Even as he aimed his pistol at one guard, he couldn't help thinking Americans. Why is it that they all want to be cowboys?
As the second guard sank to his knees, Archer caught sight of Reed and nodded his gratitude, flashing a huge smile at his officer. With a little prodding from Archer the third guard surrendered, throwing his weapon away and then sitting down on the ground with his hands on his head.
Trip was crouched in front of an open metal panel between two of the doorways and a few of 'their' guards were defending him from the other guards while he tried to hotwire the circuitry.
Just before all hell broke loose, one of Rostin's men had entered a command on a keypad which had sealed and then locked all the other doors. Now Trip was trying to undo that command so the away team could actually leave the chamber and get to the pod. His bodyguards didn't seem to be having any problems defending him, so Reed kept turning until he was facing the center of the room.
Rostin and Lorristor were still grappling with each other on the central dais, but Rostin had gotten control of the staff and was holding it across Lorristor's throat; he was using it to strangle the older man. Before his mind had finished processing what he'd just seen, Reed noticed that he'd raised his right arm and was aiming the phase pistol at Rostin.
The Princep was fighting for breath, trying to push the staff away from his throat to no avail. His vision was becoming blurry and dark spots were dancing before his eyes.
He will actually kill me. I never believed he would actually do it...
He was vaguely aware of a noise behind him. It sounded like a soft crackle of lightning followed by a muffled grunt, but he didn't think much about it. He had other things on his mind, like trying to remove the pressure from his windpipe and draw air into his lungs. Lorrister had just resigned himself to his fate when his prayers were suddenly answered.
The hands holding the staff against his throat went slack and fell away as the staff itself clattered to the ground. Gratefully Lorrister gulped at the air before he turned around, wanting to know who had helped him. The first thing he saw was Rostin lying on the ground and then his eyes flicked up to see Reed standing a couple dozen meters away. His weapon was still trained on Rostin's motionless form, as though he expected the man to sit up and attack someone.
Lorrister smiled at him in thanks. It was a dignified, reserved smile, one which Reed could easily respect. He returned the smile and nodded seriously, looking away from Lorrister for a second to assess the situation in the large room, checking all around for problems he might have missed on his first sweep.
Captain Archer is safe, Commander Tucker too... Now we just have to get the ensign back to the pod. Once we're back on Enterprise Phlox'll take care of her. She's strong, she'll be alright. We just need to get her back to the ship right away. I can't believe it, but somehow we actually won. I really wasn't expecting it to be this easy, all things considered...
When he looked back at the Princep, he was surprised to see that the smile had faded from the older man's face and was replaced by a look of shocked fear.
Before he even had a chance to be confused, Reed heard a heavy footstep behind him and felt something hard and coldly metallic press against the back of his neck.
"Drop your weapon if you want to live."
It occurred to Reed that the person behind him might be bluffing. After all, he had heard of people robbing banks with toy guns and holding hostages with curling irons. His skin told him that the object was round and smooth and it had an empty area in the middle.
Damn, it feels like the end of a gun barrel.
Reed blinked and then swallowed hard, knowing that turning around or making any move at all would be suicide. He fingered the phase pistol in his hand, nervously tightening his hand on the grip.
Why the bloody hell didn't I look behind myself when I was checking for hostiles?
He chewed the inside of his lip nervously as his eyes darted around the room. It seemed that the captain and Trip were unaware of his situation and he knew that he couldn't use the phase pistol, but he was still unwilling to leave himself defenseless.
"I said DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
The shout was right next to his ear, so loud and sudden that it made him jump slightly.
I knew it was too easy ...
Reluctantly he bent his right knee, not wanting to damage the phase pistol by letting it drop too far to the ground. He moved slowly to buy himself some time. "Alright, I'm putting it down."
He raised his voice more than was necessary as he spoke, hoping to attract Archer's or Trip's attention, but neither man was within his field of vision so he couldn't tell whether or not they had heard him.
When the pistol was on the ground he received a sharp prod in his neck, encouraging him to stand up. As soon as his hand was empty he felt vulnerable, licking dry lips and trying to think like a tactical officer instead of like a hostage.
"What are your demands? Perhaps we can negotiate ..."
A metallic click just behind his ear told him that the weapon was being cocked. Think, Reed, think! he shouted at himself, squeezing his eyes shut to try to focus.
"No closer or he dies."
Wait a tick. He wasn't talking to me, so who…?
He opened his eyes to see that Lorrister had closed the distance between them and had stopped only a few meters away.
Stalemate.
"Aaugh!"
Suddenly, the gun barrel fell away from Reed's neck and the guard cried out in pain and surprise as he fell to the ground. Reed whipped around to see his assailant lying in the dirt behind him and cradling his bleeding leg. He kicked the gun out of the man's hand, then he looked over at Jean and saw that she was holding the dagger in a bloody hand. He didn't know if the blood on her hand was her own or the guard's, but he hoped that most of it wasn't hers.
She smiled at him in a very self-satisfied way, following him with her eyes when he knelt down next to her.
"Ensign?"
He looked at her questioningly for a second before he resumed seeing to her wound. He was no doctor but he knew it was bad, and he knew that letting the bleeding go unchecked for even a few minutes hadn't done her any favors. And Phlox had warned him against removing the dagger. "How... what did you do to him?"
"Seems his leg is bothering him. It's that jackass guard from the cells, isn't it? The one who..."
Reed just nodded and she gritted her teeth, although he couldn't tell if it was from pain or anger. "...wanted to stab him, but could only reach his leg. …won't lose much blood. Unfortunately."
Anger. That's definitely anger.
Reed threw a quick glance at his fallen enemy before turning back to her, at a loss for words. Well, this is a new way to end a stalemate. His silence didn't really surprise her and she closed her eyes while he tried to get the bleeding back under control.
"Couldn't let him shoot you." She said simply, wincing as he worked. "I saw you, an the dagger was here, so I grabbed it. Least I'm still thinking clearly."
Not so clearly. He paused briefly to take the dagger from her. Once it was out of her hand he put it aside, absently noting how the blade gleamed wetly in the room's low light. He couldn't help but wonder how much of the blood on it was hers and how much belonged to the guard. As soon as the wound was clear, blood had welled up from it and spilled onto the ground. Judging by how much was there, they had even less time to get her back to Sickbay.
Reed shook his head again, pressing more bandages to the wound. "And I don't suppose you had any other reason for wanting to harm him?"
She tried to flash him a weak smirk, but only ended up wincing. Especially when he pressed on the bandages. She got the feeling that the extra pressure on the gauze was some sort of reproach, and the idea of being scolded for saving his life annoyed her. She frowned at him, muttering, "couldn't let him shoot you. Already wanting to hurt him just made it easier." Her voice was very quiet, low, and she sounded like she was just barely holding on to consciousness.
"You should know better, Ensign. Phlox told me how important it was to not remove the weapon." His hands shook slightly as he reached for something in the med kit and his fingers left bloody smears on the brushed steel. A short while later, two sets of footsteps approached them, but Reed didn't notice until they stopped a meter or so away. When he heard them he whipped his head around, suddenly worried that he'd allowed someone to sneak up on him and the ensign.
Not sure that I can properly defend her and myself from two assailants.
Reed was relieved beyond measure to see that it was the captain standing over him, with Lorrister at his shoulder.
"How is she, Malcolm?" The captain had crouched down beside his officer, surveying the man's attempt at being a battlefield medic.
Reed rubbed at his forehead with the back of his wrist. "Not good, sir. Pholx said that..." he trailed off suddenly, looking for the dropped communicator. He found it within seconds, grabbing it up from the dirt and speaking into it frantically. "Doctor? Are you still there?"
"Yes, Lieutenant! But where did you go? I must say, it is never prudent to leave a patient by themselves, especially when their wounds are as serious as the ensign's. The scans you sent me are far from favorable, but providing that the weapon hasn't been removed, her chances for survival are good."
Reed hung his head. She pulled it out to save me. I'm supposed to be protecting her, and... now I've failed, in almost every way possible, I've failed to protect her. She could die now because of my idiocy.
Archer looked from his shamefaced tactical officer to his wounded crewman. He couldn't help noticing that the blade wasn't sticking out of her any more. No wonder Reed is less than happy. Still, he put on his best brave face and took the ensign's hand in one of his, retrieving the communicator from Reed's loose grip with the other. "Doctor, it's the captain. What if the weapon has been removed. How bad?"
There was a brief crackling of static from the communicator, then "Critical. She must be taken to Sickbay or another medical facility within the next thirty minutes or else she won't survive."
Archer heard an odd noise from Reed and saw that the man was looking ashen, staring at his bloodied hands but not seeing them. "We'll get her back safe, Malcolm." The Lieutenant only shook his head in answer.
Jean had seemed oblivious to all around her until this point. She'd been somewhere nice, somewhere warm. Somewhere without any pain. She wanted to go back there, wherever it was, and stay. She closed her eyes against the suddenly harsh lights, letting her head drop to one side, her cheek pressing into the dirt floor. "Let's go back t' Enterprise. I'm n' good at dith scees." They had to guess at the last two words as she succumbed to unconsciousness again.
Lorrister nodded at her before turning to face Archer. "My men will guarantee you fast and safe passage out of the city, but I cannot offer you any protection beyond that."
Archer nodded curtly. "Thank you. My people and I appreciate your help."
"Got it!"
Trip's jubilant shout rang out across the large chamber, his joy at jury-rigging the doors to open seeming oddly inappropriate with Jean still lying there, still bleeding.
Archer moved to pick Jean up, but Reed beat him to it, protectively cradling her to his chest. The captain was about to say something, but one look at Reed's face let him know that any attempt to take her from the lieutenant would fail. Archer nodded his understanding and contented himself with closing and picking up the medkit.
"Alright, you heard the lady. Let's get her to the ship."