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"An Ounce of Patience" by A. Rhea King
Rating: PG CHAPTER 3 Archer opened his eyes when his companel beeped. He reached up and tapped it. “Archer,” he growled against his pillow. “You’re needed in Sickbay, Captain,” Phlox said. “There’s been a major development in Hoshi and Travis’ condition.” “I’m on my way,” Archer said as he threw the covers back. # Hoshi was lying on her side, staring at her arm as she sobbed. There was a bump where a spike like the alien’s lay waiting for her to push it out. Hoshi gulped in air to fuel her sobbing. She heard the doors of Sickbays open and Phlox spoke with someone. Hoshi closed her eyes, hugging her other arm tight around her abdomen. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Archer smiled, gently rubbing her arm. “Hey,” he said. “I suck!” Hoshi whimpered. “What?” “Travis has this too.” Hoshi looked back at her arm. “Why did you send me alone to get readings of the nebula, sir? I didn’t know what I was doing. I told you I didn’t know what I was doing. I should be demoted. I can’t command anything and I got us shot down and found aliens that weren’t there and--” “Hoshi,” Archer said in a gentle but firm voice. Hoshi looked up at him, crying harder. “I suck,” she whimpered. Archer smiled. He turned and pulled a stool up to the biobed, sitting down. Archer laid an arm across the top of the biobed and leaned close so he could look her in the eye. “You do not suck, Hoshi. And this could have happened to me or Trip or T’Pol.” “I find that hard to believe.” “Well don’t, because it could have.” “But it didn’t. It happened to me. I almost got us killed.” “It wasn’t because of you, Hoshi. Stop this. You aren’t responsible for anything that’s happened to you or Travis.” Archer rested his hand on Hoshi’s head. Hoshi looked up at him. Archer smiled, taking her hand with his other hand. “You have more experience and knowledge than you think you do, Hoshi. I never would have sent you two alone if I didn’t think you didn’t.” “I tricked you.” Archer chuckled. “Tricked me huh?” Hoshi nodded. Her eyes drooped closed. Archer looked up when Phlox walked up, holding a scanner over her head. He looked at Archer, motioning him to follow. Archer stood and pulled his hand from Hoshi’s. She tightened her hand on his, looking up at him. “What’s happening to me?” Hoshi asked. “I don’t know. Phlox is trying to figure that out, Hoshi.” “I’m scared.” Archer squeezed her hand. “Don’t be. You have the best doctor in Starfleet working on it.” Hoshi smiled a little. She let Archer’s hand go, her eyes closing again. Archer walked over to where Phlox was waiting for him. Archer glanced at Travis, who was staring at the ceiling and looked like he was coping with this much better than Hoshi. “What’s happening?” Archer asked. “I was looking for toxins, or drugs, or something in their blood,” Phlox pulled up an image of two brains on a monitor and pointed at them. “I was not looking for a change in brain functions.” Phlox turned to Archer. “The aliens injected something into them but it moved into the brain and has been undetectable there. There are nanoprobes throughout their body, but in small, concentrations. They look no different than platelets under the microscope and the body accepts them as such. Apparently the aliens have iron-based blood too. They are constructing biological implements in their body.” “What’s with them falling asleep?” “I’m suspecting that the change in brain function that these nanoprobes have made has caused narcolepsy in both of them.” Phlox turned to Archer. “We need to return to the planet, Captain, and try to establish communication with the aliens. I need to know what they’ve done and if it can be reversed.” “No,” Archer said. “Capt--” “They already attacked Hoshi and Travis, Doctor. I’m not going to take a chance they’re going to attack more of my crew. And we couldn’t understand them the first time, returning won’t change that.” “T’Pol mentioned that she found something resembling a communication in her scans.” “She and Ensign Shipper haven’t been able to determine that.” “You need Ensign Sato to help.” “I don’t want her on the bridge in her condition.” Phlox looked at his two patients. “Captain, we really need to talk to the aliens.” “We aren’t going back. Do everything you can and keep me posted.” Archer left Sickbay. Phlox turned around and sat down on a stool, working on the case at hand. # Archer looked up when his ready room doorbell beeped. “Come in.” T’Pol walked in, holding a PADD in her hand. “Shipper and I were able to identify a mathematic formula in the communication signal, but we need Ensign Sato to help us decode the rest of the communication, Captain.” “She’s in Sickbay, T’Pol. You and Shipper are going to have to figure it out without her.” Archer turned back to his work. T’Pol walked up to Archer. He looked up at her. “I heard you tell Ensign Sato that this event was not her fault.” “It wasn’t her fault.” “Nor was it yours.” “I shouldn’t have sent them alone, T’Pol. Neither of them had ever been on an away mission without a senior officer.” “And how are they going to learn how to cope with situations like this if they are always with a senior officer? On several occasions you’ve told me that humans learn from their mistakes.” “T’Pol, are you trying to piss me off today?” T’Pol’s eyebrow lifted. The way she pulled her hands behind her back and lifted her chin, he knew he was about to be lectured. “Captain, I agree with you that Ensign Sato did nothing wrong and she made appropriate judgment calls considering the situation and circumstances. As her captain, you have done well at consoling her and reassuring her of that. On the other hand, how can you assure her that she is capable of maintaining her rank and carrying out her responsibilities when you yourself are having the same doubts? As for this communication, we need Ensign Sato to help us with the communication recording.” Archer stared at T’Pol, thinking about how he wanted to handle this. He looked down at his monitor. “You’re right, T’Pol, I can’t help her overcome her fear if I have the same fear and I’m don’t get over it myself. But I’m not letting Hoshi help you. She is ill and she needs to rest. You’re going to have to figure out what you’ve found using Ensign Shipper.” “Captain--” Archer stood, leaning into her face. “T’Pol, Hoshi is sick! I know you need her help, but you’re going to do it without her. That will be all.” T’Pol stared into his eyes. She leaned to the side, setting the PADD down on Archer’s desk. “If your decision changes, give this to Ensign Sato.” T’Pol turned and walked out of Archer’s ready room. Archer turned, leaning on the edge of the port window. # Hoshi looked across the barren land bathed in a variety of colors. The colors seemed to hang in the air and surround her. She heard singing all around her. It was loud, but it wasn’t painfully so. She felt urgency in the singing but she was too scared to respond to it. # Hoshi jerked awake, panting lightly. “What did you dream of?” Travis asked. Hoshi turned her head. Travis was staring at the ceiling. “That place again. And the singing.” “It’s like I want to find the singing because it’s telling me to.” “Yeah. Me too.” Travis turned his head to look at her. “What do you think the dreams mean?” Hoshi shrugged. “I wish I knew.” Travis lifted his arm up, running his finger down the ridge the spike under his skin made. “What are we becoming?” “One of them, probably.” Travis turned his head when he heard Hoshi sniffle. She had her eyes closed tight and was trying to hold back her tears. Travis stretched his hand out to her. “Hoshi,” Travis said. Hoshi looked at him and smiled, reaching her hand out to him. Just as their hands met the spikes shot out from the sheaths. They moved like snakes, lacing around each other and binding Hoshi and Travis’ wrists together. Pain shot up their arms and they tried to pull away, but the spikes were much stronger. “PHLOX!” Travis screamed. Phlox ran around a curtain. He glanced at the spikes, watching them still binding the two’s wrists as he ran over to a surgical tray. He stepped between the beds, holding the scanner over the spike. He lowered the scanner toward the spike and hit a force field. Phlox looked up when both monitors beeped warnings. The heart monitors on both were flat line. Phlox looked at Travis and then Hoshi. They appeared unconscious. Phlox held the scanner over Hoshi. It was showing her vitals were normal with a slightly elevated heart rate that was slowing down. He checked Travis and found the vitals were the same. Phlox grabbed Travis’ shoulder and shook him. “Ensign.” Travis stirred a little. Phlox shook him harder. “Ensign, wake--” A bolt of energy from the force field around the spikes leapt out, struck Phlox in the chest, and sent him flying across Sickbay. Phlox hit the floor, sliding to a stop by the doors he stopped at Archer’s feet as he walked in. “Doc?” Archer helped Phlox to his feet. Phlox very slowly and stiffly got to his feet. “I’m alright. It was a low energy charge.” “What was?” Archer looked toward Travis and Hoshi. “What’s the alarm for?” Phlox walked back toward the two. He ran into the same force field a few centimeters from the biobed. He backed up, laying his hand on it and then scanning it. Archer walked up next to him, reaching out and laying a hand on the force field. Unlike other energy fields he’d encountered, this one didn’t emit an electric charge, but remained solid and forcing him to keep his distance from his crewmen. Phlox shut off the monitors, silencing the warning alarms. “What’s happening to them?” Archer asked, looking at their wrists. Phlox sighed. “I wish I knew.” Archer kept his hand on the force field, following around to where it ran into the wall behind Travis’ bed. Archer turned away, looking as frustrated as he felt. “Captain,” Phlox said. Archer turned. The spikes were releasing the two’s wrists and retracted back into their arms. Archer stepped forward, running into the force field. He put his hand on it. “Why isn’t this force field going down? Doctor, call Trip and Malcolm.” Phlox walked over to a companel and tapped it. “Phlox to Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed.” Archer stepped back, watching Travis and Hoshi sit up in unison, step of the biobed and start toward the door. Both appeared to be sleepwalking. “Phlox lock the door!” Phlox looked up. He turned and ran to the door, locking it. “Trip, here,” Trip said. Archer tapped a companel near him. “We need you and Malcolm in the Sickbay immediately, Trip. Bring weapons.” “On our way.” Hoshi and Travis stopped at the door. Hoshi reached out and touched the control, but the locked doors stayed locked. Travis moved his hand over her other hand and an energy in the form of light appeared. “Doc?” Archer said. Phlox grabbed a scanner, moving as close as he could. He looked at Archer. “The nanoprobes in her system are emitting a signal to override the lock. This isn’t going to--” The doors slid open and the two walked out. Archer and Phlox followed them. They appeared to be in no hurry. They turned the corner of the third junction. Trip and Malcolm were running toward them. Both men stopped and aimed phasers at the two. “Stun only,” Archer ordered. The two checked the settings and shot. Hoshi and Travis stopped walking, but appeared unaffected by the shot. “Now what?” Trip asked. The spike from their wrists slid out of their sheath and linked. Trip and Malcolm suddenly went flying down the hall. At the last moment, right before they hit the wall, they stopped and fell into a pile on the floor. Both started to get up and were thrown back to the floor again by an invisible force. The two turned into the first junction and Trip and Malcolm were released. They tried to pick up their weapons and found them fused to the floor. They looked at one another and then ran after the group. Travis and Hoshi stopped at the lift and the doors opened. They stepped on and the doors closed before Archer, Phlox, Trip, or Malcolm could step on with them. “The other lift. Hurry,” Archer said. The four turned and ran to the second lift. # The lift doors opened on the bridge and T’Pol turned in the captain’s chair, watching Hoshi and Travis walk past her. She tapped the companel on the chair arm as she stood. “Bridge to Archer.” “Go ahead.” “Ensign Sato and Ensign Mayweather just came onto the bridge.” “What are they doing?” Travis and Hoshi stopped and the spikes unlinked and retracted. The two walked over to their stations and a force drug the officers in the chairs out and gently dropped them onto the floor. They sat down in their chairs and held their hands up over the controls. A light appeared under their hands and the controls began functioning on their own. “I wish I knew.” Enterprise slowed out of warp. Archer, Phlox, Malcolm, and Trip ran through the situation room door onto the bridge. Enterprise came to a halt. Archer walked toward Travis and ran into the force field again. “Travis,” Archer said. There was no response. Enterprise turned about and jumped to warp. “Where are we headed?” Archer turned to T’Pol. T’Pol walked over to her station. “We’ve reversed course.” “Trip, stop the ship.” Trip walked over to engineering. He frowned and tapped the companel. “Tucker to Engineering.” “Go ahead, sir.” “Billy, manually shut down the warp drive.” “Aye, sir.” There was a moment of silence and then the crewman was back. “Sir, there’s some kind of force field around the engine and any other place that we could manually shut her down. What the hell is going on, sir?” Trip looked at Archer. “I’ll get back to you on that. Stand by.” Trip tapped the companel. “Now what?” “Have they charted any coordinates?” Archer asked T’Pol. “No. There is no apparent destination.” Archer looked at the view screen. “Where are you two taking us?” Archer asked quietly. There was no answer to his question. |
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