Malcolm's leg healed quickly, as did the other cuts and bruises he'd sustained. But he didn't argue when Phlox insisted he stay in sickbay for a few days, something no one who knew him would have believed. He wanted to keep an eye on a comatose Lieutenant Welles, who lay in the next biobed. Phlox had taken the young man into surgery to repair his injuries as soon as he arrived in sickbay. A sharp edge of one of the ceiling panels had caught Andrew right below the ribcage and sliced deeply into his right side, breaking 7 ribs which in turn punctured his right lung. His right hip, arm, and shoulder had also been broken, as well as the fingers on his right hand, which he'd used to cover his head when the ceiling fell. "If he hadn't had the presence of mind to do that," Phlox reported, "he would have suffered more serious head injuries than a simple concussion.
Malcolm met Mariah Welles the first day, as she waited in sickbay for news while Phlox operated on Andrew. When he'd asked her if she had any other family on board besides her sons, she'd told him that her parents, younger sister, and younger brother had been on another escape pod and had been picked up by the Columbia. Malcolm was struck by her beauty, but for some strange reason felt more paternal towards her than anything else. He held her hand, tried to comfort her, and assured her that there was no better doctor than Phlox as they waited for news.
Malcolm was impressed by Mariah's strength and calm, and her utter belief that Andrew would recover. After surgery was over, they sat together in sickbay, watching him breathe, listening to the machines that beeped around him, observing the tubes in both his arms, and the bandages covering his face and side.
But Malcolm had to ask her the question he'd been holding in, the one that wanted to burst from him and explode into the atmosphere. He had given a full report to Captain Archer and the others on the command staff how he and Welles had managed to shut down all the relays to protect the armory, and then made a run for the door. But after the others departed, and it was just Mariah and him, he had to know.
"You know, the last thing he told me," Malcolm finally said softly as he sat next to her, "was that I had family on the Enterprise." He noticed her body stiffen a little, but her eyes never moved from her husband's form, and she tightened her grip on Andrew's hand. "I was puzzled by that," Malcolm continued tentatively, "because I checked the records back when we met your Enterprise last year, and it said I never married or had children." He paused, hoping she would respond, yet unnerved by what he might hear.
Mariah took a deep breath, then turned her bright green eyes slowly towards him, and smiled a little smile. "Lieutenant Reed," her voice was low, "I'm afraid I have no answers for you. It's Andrew you need to talk to, not me." Malcolm stared at her. 'She must know something,' he thought, 'but it wasn't fair to press her when she had so much to worry about right now.' So he merely nodded at her.
"He's a good man," Mariah said softly as she grasped Andrew's hand like a lifeline. Malcolm glanced at her, feeling her pain as she stared at her husband. "Even though," she continued with a small smile, "he disobeys direct orders." "You heard about that," Malcolm commented. "Yes," she turned to look into Malcolm's face, "he disobeyed you, I know." "I gave that order to keep him, to keep everyone in the armory, safe," he replied. "He would have done the same thing on our ship," she told him. "Keeping everyone safe was his number one priority." She returned her gaze to her husband. "When we decided to get married, he told me that he loved me more than anything, and couldn't wait to have a family, but that keeping the Enterprise safe and completing our mission was his sacred duty. He said that meant keeping everyone onboard, especially me, completely safe and protected." A tear trickled down her cheek, and she hurriedly wiped it away. Malcolm knew she was fighting to stay strong. "He said," her voice faltered, "he said he would die for me, for anyone and everyone on the ship, and for the ship itself." "Well," Malcolm put his hand over hers, "it's not going to come to that. Not this time."
The two of them sat quietly, side by side, both regarding the unconscious man on the biobed. She reached up and gently smoothed an errant lock of hair from his bandaged forehead. "He didn't make a habit of it," she continued absently, almost as if she were thinking out loud, "but one of the last things he did on our Enterprise was disobey a direct order-from Captain Lorian."
Malcolm's eyebrows shot up and his eyes flew to her. He himself had disobeyed Captain Archer once, but his commanding officer had been infected by an alien species and was not acting rationally. She smiled at him again. "The two of them were often at odds about the security of our ship, but if Andrew couldn't convince the captain to listen to him, he never pushed too hard. But that last day, when our ship was dying and we were evacuating, Andrew loaded the boys and me onto a life pod, then went back to the bridge; he told me he would be on the last shuttle with the captain."
"When he arrived, Karyn Archer was trying to convince Lorian to leave, but the captain was adamant about staying. Andrew told me the captain insisted that he'd been on that ship for over 100 years and he would not abandon it in its final moments. The captain had a broken arm from falling on the bridge when the ship started to break up, and he refused to get out of his chair and leave. He told them both to get on the shuttle without him, and he made it a direct order. Karyn was practically screaming at him, and Andrew joined her in trying to convince him that losing the ship was not a reason to die. Andrew even asked him, 'how am I supposed to face your parents and tell them I left you behind? If Commander Tucker doesn't kill me, your mother will!' But Lorian was insistent. Finally Andrew grabbed Karyn's arm and acted like he was pulling her away. He looked at the Captain and said, 'I hate to disobey a direct order,' and pulled out a phaser he kept hidden at his post on the bridge, and fired it at Lorian, stunning him."
"He stunned his captain?" Malcolm could picture the entire scene, and while he was shocked that Andrew would commit such a flagrant breach of discipline, part of him knew that he himself would have done the same thing if Jonathan Archer had insisted on dying with his ship. "Yes," Mariah's voice brought him back to her story, "he stunned him, then he and Karyn got on either side of him and dragged him to the shuttle bay. They put him on the bench, and Karyn flew them out-the last 3 people to leave the ship." She shook her head. "Hoodu and I were waiting for him, and I kept thinking, he'll be on the next escape pod, the next shuttle. I kept watching everyone else being saved, and I was just about to think I'd never see him again, then there he was, helping Lorian out the door and into Commander Tucker's arms."
Malcolm studied the face of the young man stretched out on the bed. "Sometimes we have to do what's right, even if it means disobeying orders," he murmured. "A few days later," Mariah continued, "Captain Lorian called Andrew to the captain's ready room, and Andrew went in prepared to face him down for what had happened. He went nose to nose with the captain, but managed to keep his temper. He told Lorian that if he wanted Andrew to spend the entire trip to earth in the brig, he would gladly go, because it meant that he'd done his sacred duty. He couldn't save Enterprise, our Enterprise, but he knew every man, woman, and child on board were safe."
"What did Captain Lorian do?" Malcolm asked. Mariah smiled, "He chewed Andrew out royally for disobeying him, and then said he and his parents were all glad he did. But he said that there might be a payback some day for getting stunned!" She laughed softly. "A few days later Captain Lorian came into the gym when Andrew was working out, and they did some sparring. Even with a newly healed arm, our captain is one strong Vulcan, and he pretty much tossed Andrew off the walls."