He Who Fights with Monsters - Part 5

He Who Fights With Monsters

By Thalia Drogna

Rated: R
Genre: Action/Adventure; Angst; Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters, I’m just borrowing them.

~~~

Archer had called T’Pol and Lieutenant Reed to his ready room. He had to discuss the problem of Sharien and Shar Jen with someone, it had been eating at him ever since he had confined Sharien to her quarters with a guard.

“Well, as much as I’d like to, we can’t lock her in the brig,” said Reed, “it’s already occupied. Of course there’s always decon but that hardly seems like much of a punishment.”

“I don’t think decon is appropriate,” said Archer. “Any sort of custodial sentence will mean we’re stuck with her until we return to Earth and right now we don’t know when that will be.”

“Perhaps it would be best to continue with our original intent and leave her and Shar Jen on the new planet,” said T’Pol.

“So Sharien gets to carry on her life as if nothing happened, while Trip lies in the brig unable to even communicate properly. That sounds fair,” said Reed sarcastically, anger tingeing his voice. “Besides if we’re discussing Sharien, we should also be discussing Shar Jen. She’s the one who kidnapped the Commander in the first place.”

“I know, Malcolm, but it comes back to the fact that we don’t have the resources for taking long term prisoners at the moment. We’re in the middle of the most important mission that we’ve ever undertaken and I can’t worry about those two causing trouble all the time,” said Archer.

“The Tien will most probably welcome Shar Jen home as a hero and no doubt the Kriel will view Sharien’s actions equally favourably,” said T’Pol.

“Perhaps we should give Sharien to the Tien and Shar Jen to the Kriel,” said Reed, a glint of evil menace in his eye and a hint of a smile twisting his lips.

“I think that would come under the heading “cruel and unusual punishment”, Lieutenant,” replied Archer, not seeing the black humour that Reed had obviously found.

“It would also likely result in war between the Kriel and the Tien and the further loss of life,” said T’Pol. “I understand your need to seek justice in this matter but you cannot judge an alien race on human standards. Neither Shar Jen nor Sharien believes that their actions were wrong in the context of the war between their peoples. We are not on Earth and we cannot apply the laws of Earth here.”

“There must be something that we can do,” said Reed. “We can’t just let them go.”

“I don’t see that we have any other choice,” said Archer. “T’Pol’s right, this isn’t Earth and we can’t apply our laws here, but perhaps we can make Trip’s sacrifice worthwhile. If it kills me, those two are going to sit down and talk to each other about peace.”

****

His condition had a name, “aphasia”, and it meant that he had impaired communication skills. The irony of Phlox having to take three tries before he understood what his condition was called was not lost on Trip. He also knew that he had a very narrow window in which to improve, if after a few months he hadn’t regained his language abilities then the chances were that they would never come back. That scared him, but Hoshi’s reassurances had helped him some. He knew that she was a great teacher and he wouldn’t have wanted anyone else helping him.

She had explained to him in their session the way that things would work. They would spend most of their time trying to improve Trip’s vocabulary since that was the area where he seemed to have lost most. However, she also wanted him to practice his conversation skills so they would be doing exercises, or role play as Hoshi had called it, to improve that area. She wouldn’t help him finish his sentences unless he asked her, but he could take as long as he needed. If it helped, then drawing pictures, making gestures or writing was allowed, but only as a last resort.

The therapy didn’t stop with Hoshi, everyone who had agreed to spend some time with Trip had been given the same instructions, make him talk to you, speak slowly, get him to name objects, don’t talk over him, give him time to complete his sentences and don’t finish them for him. Finally and most importantly check you have understood what he has said and let him know it. Frustration was one of the main things that they were fighting against and the more they could let Trip know that he was getting through the better. Hoshi had also discovered that he had a far easier time carrying on a conversation if there were no distractions or background noise.

Hoshi had just left after their second session and he was once more having the pleasure of T’Pol’s company. It seemed to him that T’Pol had drawn the short straw in the “suicide watch” stakes, she was with him far more than any of the others. He was under no illusions about why he now had a constant companion, he knew that they were worried that he would hurt himself again, and to be honest they were right, if he could have found a way to try again he would have.

He desperately wanted the pain to end. He had lain there that morning trying to think of ways that he could kill himself, the problem was that while he was in the brig he couldn’t put any of those ideas into action. He had thought about venting the atmosphere from the cell, or putting a phase pistol to his head, or finding a live relay to electrocute himself on, or blowing himself out of an airlock, or taking a walk on the catwalk while they were at warp, or using a broken padd to finish what he’d started on his wrists, or overdosing on one of the drugs that Phlox had given him, but none of those were practical at the moment. Perhaps he could get well enough to leave the brig, make them think that he was okay and wouldn’t try again. Then he’d be free to do as he wanted and end it all. He looked for opportunities every minute of every day, but everyone was being too cautious, no one would leave so much as a glass of water within his reach. He could think of at least a dozen ways to kill himself with a broken glass, the first aid courses given at the Academy had been intended to teach where to apply pressure to stop bleeding but had also told him which were the right veins to slash if he wanted to die.

He knew that he’d been very unlucky before. He hadn’t anticipated that Phlox would return so soon or that he would call Malcolm to unlock the door. Lieutenant Reed was probably the only person on Enterprise, excluding himself, who could have unlocked the door to the brig so quickly after Trip had scrambled its code. He doubted that even Hess could have done it in time.

Of course the nightmares had begun again with avengeance as soon as he’d been removed from the protection of the Rel Sevanne. He’d never really slept while he was part of the Rel Sevanne so there had been no dreams or nightmares. Why his subconscious seemed to be determined to torture him, he had no idea but it was. Sleep was something he was trying to avoid, along with talking. So far he hadn’t been able to make Phlox understand that he didn’t want to sleep or rest and he was beginning to dread the doctor coming into the cell with a hypospray.

“Commander,” said T’Pol. “I wish to speak with you.”

“Don’t want to,” said Trip.

“I believe Ensign Sato’s instructions were that you should attempt to use proper sentences,” said T’Pol.

“Not gonna,” said Trip, sounding for all the world like a petulant child. He just didn’t want to talk to T’Pol, he had to concentrate so hard to understand her and he was just too tired. Not physically tired, but mentally.

T’Pol turned on her padd and switched it into dictation mode so that Trip could also read what she was going to say. Trip didn’t take the padd and left it lying by his side.

“I found your attempt to take your own life very illogical,” said T’Pol. Trip turned his head to look at T’Pol, his eyes wide with surprise at her blunt confrontation. “Perhaps you could explain to me why you did it.”

Trip remained silent.

“If you refuse to talk to me I cannot help you,” said T’Pol.

“D-d-did…the doctor…put you up to this?” asked Trip, crossly.

“Yes,” said T’Pol. “He suggested that I speak to you.”

That wasn’t the answer that Trip had expected. He hadn’t expected T’Pol to tell him the truth, but then she was a Vulcan and, according to what he’d heard, Vulcans did not lie.

“It hurts,” he said simply as if that would explain everything.

“I do not understand,” said T’Pol. She held the padd for Trip to take once more. He sighed and took it.

“Rel Sevanne, home, and it’s gone,” said Trip, and he could feel the tears welling in his eyes even as he said the words. He missed it so much.

“Do you remember what you felt when Shar Jen first suggested to you becoming part of the Rel Sevanne’s computer?” asked T’Pol.

Trip nodded. He remembered, but he couldn’t have been more wrong, the Rel Sevanne was wonderful. Being part of the computer was like being part of a family that you knew would always love you and care for you. He instinctively reached out for a connection but found none and that just reminded him of what he’d lost.

“You did not want to become part of the computer. You told me that you were worried that the nanites would control you. You were worried that you were becoming less human, you feared that you were turning into a computer. By being conjoined with the Rel Sevanne you became part of a computer, exactly what you feared most,” said T’Pol.

Trip closed his eyes. He had felt threatened by the nanites and he hadn’t wanted to become part of the computer, turn himself into something that wasn’t human. How did he reconcile those feelings with his feelings about the loss of the Rel Sevanne? He didn’t know. Something wasn’t right.

“Your humanity was subsumed by the machine, everything that you feared, it happened,” said T’Pol. She knew she had reached something inside him by reminding him of this incident. The question was would it be enough to shake him out of his current state.

Trip opened his eyes and looked at T’Pol. “It’s gone,” he said. “It was like home.” Then he was quiet and T’Pol didn’t know how to continue. She thought she had seen a flicker of doubt cross his face but then his final comment made her wonder if she had got through at all.

“Commander, you must face reality,” she said. “The Xindi still threaten Earth. Enterprise needs you.”

“Can’t…work… like this,” said Trip, desperately searching for the words to tell T’Pol what he felt.

“Your mind is still intact,” replied T’Pol. “We will find some way to accommodate your disability.”

Trip looked at T’Pol and shook his head. “Not enough,” he said. He closed his eyes as his body was suddenly wrapped in pain, he tried to hide it from T’Pol but she spotted it immediately. The padd dropped from his fingers as the sensation consumed his entire body. The nanites were relaying anxious messages to him, asking him what the situation was and if they could help. He was too occupied by the screaming of his agonised nerves to reply to the nanites. He tried to curl up to get some relief but his body wouldn’t do what he wanted it to.

“I will get the doctor,” said T’Pol.

“No,” said Trip, trying to reach out for her, but she had already stepped away from the bed and his damaged nerves weren’t fast enough to follow her. He suspected that the doctor would only want to knock him out once again and he didn’t want that. T’Pol looked at him but called Phlox nonetheless.

Phlox appeared and scanned Trip. The pain was getting worse and had spread over his entire body. It felt like fire creeping down his veins, burning him from the inside. Pain had been with him ever since he had awoken but it had never been as intense as this, Phlox’s painkillers had made sure of that. Trip had wondered what else the doctor had been giving him in the drip that was constantly plugged into his arm, but he hadn’t been able to understand the doctor’s explanation.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it at the moment, but this is actually a very good sign,” said Phlox. “I believe that your motor neurones are regenerating and that is what is causing the pain that you are experiencing.”

“Getting better?” asked Trip, a note of hope entering his voice.

“Yes, you’re getting better in at least that respect,” said Phlox and he was rewarded with a small smile from his patient, the first genuine smile that he’d seen. Anything that the Commander could feel was a good sign, even if it was unpleasant. “Now let me give you something for the pain.”

“No,” said Trip, shrinking back against his pillows, and shakily raising a hand. “No more sleeping.” He hoped that he had made himself understood, but Phlox looked as if he was still intent on giving Trip the injection.

“Mr Tucker has been experiencing nightmares again, especially while under sedation,” said T’Pol and Trip wondered how she knew. She had been there most times when he’d woken recently but he certainly hadn’t expected her to know how badly the nightmares were troubling him.

“Really?” said Phlox with interest. He left the cell and returned a few moments later. “This is just a painkiller, it won’t make you sleep.”

Trip relaxed a little and let the doctor inject him with the hypospray. It worked quickly and he did start to feel the pain recede without the usual accompanying sleepiness. Trust, he realised, was important, he had trusted the doctor to take care of him and do as he’d asked, once T’Pol had explained.

“You will need to rest at some point,” said Phlox. “But we’ll wait until you go to sleep naturally.”

Trip nodded. That he could cope with, but the constant drugged sleepiness that he had been experiencing over the past few days was what he had feared. He didn’t like it and was beginning to wonder if that was just down to the nightmares or if there was something else that worried him about it. T’Pol’s words had made him consider some things that he hadn’t been unwilling to think about before and he was making connections in his mind that he hadn’t previously made. He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to think about the things that T’Pol had raised but it seemed that he had no choice.

****

T’Pol left Trip when Lieutenant Reed arrived for his shift with the Commander. She made her way to Shar Jen’s quarters to collect the Tien Artificer and continue their research. She had been satisfied with the way that her first discussion with the Commander had gone. She had not expected too much to begin with, but had at least managed to get some answers and made him think. She knew that some of her points had made it through.

She accompanied Shar Jen to the Command Centre and they began their work once more. Hoshi had now managed to translate the rest of the database with the help of the Universal Translator program. It was now simply a matter of searching the database for what they needed.

“Found it,” shouted Shar Jen. They had been working for hours when Shar Jen made the exclamation and T’Pol was in no mood to be played with.

“Have you discovered the relevant passages?” asked the Vulcan, sounding considerably calmer than she felt.

“Yes,” said Shar Jen, “although I doubt that you will like what it says.”

T’Pol read the section which Shar Jen brought up on the screen for her. “This is a procedure for wiping memories,” said T’Pol.

“Yes, that is how her recovery was accomplished. They made her forget that she was ever part of the computer. A combination of drugs and Tien empathic catharsis were used to isolate the memories and remove them,” said Shar Jen.

“I do not think that Commander Tucker will be receptive to such an invasive procedure,” said T’Pol. “There must be another way. We will resume our search.”

“Sub-commander, this is it. There is no other way, we will not find any more references to a disconnected Patriarch, there was only one in the entire history of Tien,” said Shar Jen. “We know what happened to the Vor Devrees Patriarch who was disconnected, he committed suicide. Can Shu tried several times to end her own life but the Tien prevented her and eventually she was able to lead a normal life.”

“I am aware of that,” said T’Pol. “However there are ethical considerations to this line of treatment. Ultimately we must obtain the Commander’s permission for this and I do not believe that he will give it to us. The Tien may not have had concerns about deleting a person’s memories against their will but I have no doubt that the Captain will. Commander Tucker does not even realise the damage which his time as part of the Rel Sevanne has done to his perceptions.”

“I can guarantee that if we don’t do something then he will try to take his own life again,” said Shar Jen. “And next time he could well succeed. Is it better to let him try again or to save his life?”

****End of Chapter 25****

Reed was taking Trip through the daily reports. It was his idea to try and make Trip realise that he was still part of the crew and had everything to live for. The only problem was that it was hard work for both of them, Reed had to explain everything at least twice and Trip was getting annoyed by his inability to understand. Reed decided to give up, it wasn’t helping Trip and, if anything, was making matters worse.

“Okay,” said Reed. “Let’s leave these for the moment.” The padd Trip was holding displayed what he’d just said and Trip sighed in relief and nodded. “How about we do something different?”

“What?” asked Trip, in an annoyed tone. Reed understood that Trip didn’t just mean “what”, he meant “what the hell can we do when I can’t even form a coherent sentence”. Reed was getting used to the frustrated exclamations from his friend. He picked up a stylus and began to draw on his padd. It was tricky with his broken arm but he managed. Trip watched with interest and when Reed was done he passed the padd to him. It was a reasonably accurate diagram of the warp core and beside it was a list of equations. Trip recognised it as a problem in warp theory like the kind they made cadets solve at the academy. He looked up at Reed a question in his eyes. Hoshi hadn’t tested his numerical abilities but he didn’t seem to be having any trouble with understanding the equations.

“Go on then, Commander,” said Reed. “I know you have a calculator in your head so you’ve got no excuses.”

Trip looked down at the padd again, and he realised that it wasn’t quite as simple as he’d first thought. In fact what Reed had given him was looking interesting. He started to work through it. It took a while and it was certainly not easy, but then if it had been it wouldn’t have been any fun and he suspected that Malcolm knew that all along. He checked in with the nanites and they helped him out with the raw maths but he worked through the solution on his own. Reed saw Trip’s miserable, disinterested eyes light up again at the prospect of working on a puzzle and he watched it all with fascination.

Trip finally finished up, circling his answer with a couple of strokes of the stylus and handed it to the Lieutenant with a certain amount of satisfaction.

“Trip, you just solved a problem that Lieutenant Hess has been working on for the past three days,” said Reed. “The Vor Devrees explosion knocked something out of kilter down in Engineering and the warp engine hasn’t been running right since. We haven’t been able to go over warp three. Hess came to me yesterday to see if I had a fresh perspective on the problem, I’m not a warp theory specialist so I couldn’t help her. You’ve just worked out the solution to the problem in less than two hours.”

Trip looked at Reed. He picked up the stylus again and almost grabbed the padd back from Reed. Now that he knew what he’d been working on, he had a few other things to add to his solution. After some frantic scribbling he handed the padd back again.

Reed read what it said. “3 days!!?” Then there was a small picture of a stick figure in a dunce’s cap. Reed laughed. The picture was followed by a list of parts and some diagrams. And at the bottom it said, “no more than 12 hours’ work or she’s lying.” Reed knew Trip expected his staff to work hard and he didn’t like it when people didn’t give it their all. Hess had done her best, but she just wasn’t Trip and that was the problem, no one knew the engine like the Chief Engineer. Reed smiled at his friend, it looked as if the old Trip might be closer to the surface than they’d thought. And Trip grinned back at him, happy for the first time since he’d left the Rel Sevanne.

“I’ll be sure to pass this on to the Captain,” said Reed. He had no doubt that the Captain would also be interested to hear Trip’s estimate of how long it should take to make the necessary alterations since Hess had a tendency to overestimate.

“What’s that Malcolm?” asked a voice from the doorway.

“Captain,” said Trip, pleased that he could at least remember his friend’s rank even if he couldn’t get his name from the dark recesses of his brain.

“The Commander has just sorted out that problem that we’ve been having with the warp engine,” said Reed and passed the padd to the Captain. A brief, almost imperceptible, look of amusement crossed Archer’s face.

“I’ll get Hess on it,” he said, as if he wasn’t holding a padd with a picture of a stickman on it. “It’s my turn to spend some time with Trip,” he added.

Reed got up to vacate the seat beside Trip and he stepped out of the cell so that he could have a quick word with the Captain before he took over. The Captain had spent the past few hours on shuttle diplomacy between the Shar Jen and Sharien and he looked exhausted, but Reed wanted to know how the peace talks were going. The women had currently refused to even sit down in the same room together.

Trip yawned, despite himself. He didn’t want to sleep but he knew that the virus had taken it’s toll on his body and he was still very weak. He was very aware of how much sleep he seemed to need, much more than usual and he didn’t like it. He missed the wakeful state that the Rel Sevanne induced but of course that wasn’t the only thing he missed.

Reed and Archer were standing just outside the door of the cell and neither of them were paying attention to Trip. He knew that Phlox was also just outside the cell but this was the first time he’d been even vaguely on his own since the suicide attempt. He looked for something that he could use, and while he thought he contacted the nanites, who responded instantly to him.

“I need you to project the jamming field again. Fool the medical scanners into thinking that they’re reading my biosigns,” said Trip in his mind. It was so much easier talking to the nanites who only required concepts from him rather than actual words.

“Acknowledged,” said the nanites. “Jamming.”

He looked down at the padd in his hands and remembered how quick Hoshi had been to pick up the sharp pieces of the one he had broken. The bed he lay on had metal sides to it and he knew the padd would break on it. He took the padd and smashed it as hard as he could against the railing. It produced a beautiful, jagged shard; just what he needed. He didn’t have time to finish what he’d started on his wrists, this time he planned to hit his heart, he didn’t think that even Phlox would be able to save him if he accomplished that.

Except that he never got a chance to get any further, Lieutenant Reed had grabbed his hand with the shard in it. He hadn’t even noticed that Archer and Reed had finished their conversation.

“Trip, no!” said Reed. He struggled with the determined Engineer who seemed to have found extra strength from somewhere. The sound of Trip smashing the padd had alerted him to trouble.

“Trip, stop it!” said Archer, grabbing the other arm, and the two officers held Trip down as he continued to writhe under their grip. The doctor appeared with a hypospray and once again Trip found himself descending into a drug induced haze of nightmares.

Archer and Reed only let go of Trip once they were sure that the sedative had taken effect.

“I’m going to have to put him in restraints,” said Phlox. “Now that his movement abilities are improving, he’s only going to become more intent on finding ways to harm himself.”

“T’Pol came to me earlier with the results of her research from the Rel Sevanne archive,” said Archer. “I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite so quick to dismiss what she had to say.”

“What was her proposal?” asked Phlox.

“That we wipe his memory of the entire incident,” said Archer. “If he can’t remember being part of the Rel Sevanne then he wouldn’t remember the brainwashing either. It’s how they were able to save the Tien Matriarch that was disconnected. Shar Jen believes that she can perform the procedure on Trip.”

“I don’t think Trip will agree to that,” said Reed. “He’ll think of it as losing part of himself.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t give him the choice,” said Archer.

“Captain, you know that Denobulan medical ethics does not let me treat a patient against his will,” said Phlox.

“But surely if a patient isn’t able to give their consent, if their mental state is impaired, then you have the ability to overrule what they want,” said Archer.

“Yes, in those cases we do have the ability to do what is best for the patient without his or her consent but I’m not sure that applies in this case. Commander Tucker is completely lucid and aware of his situation,” said Phlox.

“But, doctor, he was the victim of brainwashing,” said Reed. “He isn’t himself.”

“Just because he isn’t himself doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand what is going on. Would you consider someone mad if they believe in god? There is no way to prove that a deity exists but we do not consider those who hold religious beliefs to be insane. I won’t let him harm himself, but I won’t do anything that he has expressly indicated he does not want,” said Phlox.

“And if I order you to?” asked Archer.

“I still would not go against my patient’s wishes, unless you can demonstrate to me that he really is unable to make decisions for himself,” said Phlox. “Some cultures would even argue that I should have let the Commander commit suicide, but I do not believe that suicide is a rational act under any circumstances.”

“How would you assess if Trip is able to make the decision for himself?” asked Archer.

“There are some tests that I can perform to ascertain whether his thinking is logical and clear,” said Phlox. “But he really has shown no sign that his reasoning skills are damaged. T’Pol made some progress with him earlier and I believe that with further work we will be able to break the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning.”

“The problem is keeping him alive until then,” said Archer. “I know Trip, he’s not going to give up.” He didn’t add that Enterprise needed its Chief Engineer back and they didn’t have time to waste, they needed to resume their mission and for that they needed Trip.

“Commander Tucker is very resourceful,” said Reed. “If he really wants to, then he’ll find a way eventually.”

“I fear you may be right,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, I want you to review T’Pol and Shar Jen’s data. Find a way to make this work for Trip. I’ll try and talk him into it but if I can’t then we may have to go ahead without his consent,” said Archer, and he knew that if they did go ahead with it without Trip’s consent then he might just hate himself for the rest of his life.

“But Captain, I just cannot allow you to do this without consent,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, either you do this or I confine you to your quarters for insubordination and get Shar Jen to do it without your supervision. We can’t complete this mission without Trip,” said Archer. “I’m sure that Shar Jen will be only too happy to help.”

“Captain…” began Reed.

“No, Malcolm, I’ve made my decision,” said Archer. “Well Doctor?”

“You don’t leave me any choice. I’d be placing the Commander in more danger if I allow Shar Jen to perform the procedure without my supervision,” said Phlox.

“How long before Trip wakes up?” asked Archer.

“An hour or so. I didn’t give him a very strong dose,” said Phlox.

“I’ll wait,” said Archer and sat down on the chair beside Trip’s bed.

Reed and Phlox exchanged looks before they exited the cell and left Archer alone with the sleeping, suicidal Engineer.

****

Trip dreamt dark, twisted dreams. Everything was tangled together. Images of his time with the Xindi mixed in with images from the Rel Sevanne battle. Emotions clouded everything and he struggled to escape them. Finally he clawed his way to the surface and awoke gasping for air.

He found that his wrists were tied down, he struggled briefly against the restraints before he remembered what had happened. He’d tried again. But they’d stopped him. He should be dead but he wasn’t. Why did they keep stopping him and bringing him back to this existence where there was only misery and solitude.

“Trip,” said a voice beside him, he turned to look and saw the Captain sitting beside him. “It’s okay, you’re going to be fine. We just had to put the restraints on to stop you from hurting yourself.” Archer put out a hand and rested it on Trip’s shoulder. Trip felt the touch, which he knew had to be a good sign, the nerve damage was healing, but he wasn’t happy about being restrained.

“Take them off,” he said.

“Sorry, but they have to stay on for the moment,” said Archer. “We need to talk.” Archer helped Trip sit up and repositioned the pillows behind him to prop him up. Then he took another pillow, put it on Trip’s lap and balanced a padd against it. Trip sighed theatrically, he knew that this meant it was going to be a serious conversation that he had to try and follow. Usually between listening carefully and reading slowly, he could get the meaning of what someone was saying to him. He had been pleasantly surprised to discover that his ability to understand math and numbers seemed unimpaired, but that didn’t help with everyday conversation.

“Shar Jen and T’Pol discovered a way to help you. There was a Tien matriarch that they disconnected from their computer and she tried to kill herself too, but they stopped her and eventually she led a normal life. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, Captain,” said Trip, sounding almost like his old self.

“Your emotions are confused regarding the Rel Sevanne because the computer was brainwashing you into believing that it was a good place to be. We can’t undo what Shar Jen did to you, but we can erase your memories of being part of the computer and erase the brainwashing. It would be like you were never conjoined,” said Archer. Trip caught up with what Archer was saying and began to shake his head.

“No, don’t want to,” said Trip. “The Rel Sevanne was like home.” He thought hard for a moment, searched the depths of his mind for the words that he wanted to say. “I don’t want to forget it, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Archer listened carefully, the sentence that Trip had just strung together was the longest thing that he’d managed to say since he’d been back. He knew it had to have been an effort. “Trip, you don’t understand. You’d be back to your old self, it would be like it never happened.”

“But it did happen,” replied Trip. “I don’t want to forget,” he repeated.

“Are you telling me that you won’t agree to it?” asked Archer. “This could save your life.”

“I don’t want to live,” replied Trip.

****

“How long until we reach the planet?” T’Pol asked Mayweather.

“Lieutenant Hess thinks that she’ll have the Engine running at top speed again in about twelve hours and we should reach the planet about forty eight hours after that,” replied the helmsman.

Captain Archer stepped out of the turbo lift. T’Pol immediately rose to vacate the Captain’s chair. “T’Pol, I need to speak with you,” said the Captain.

T’Pol inclined her head in acknowledgement. “Ensign, you have the bridge,” she said to Mayweather.

“Aye, Sub-commander,” replied Mayweather.

T’Pol followed Archer into his ready room. Archer stood staring out of the window in a position T’Pol had come to know well. She wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “What did you wish to discuss, Captain?” asked T’Pol.

“I spoke to Trip about the memory deletion procedure. He refused to agree to it. I ordered Phlox to go ahead without Trip’s consent,” said Archer, his voice devoid of emotion.

“I will alert Shar Jen,” said T’Pol.

“Is that all you have to say?” asked Archer, turning to face his first officer.

“I am sure you have already discussed this with the doctor,” said T’Pol.

“I have. He wasn’t very happy. But I wanted to know your opinion,” said Archer.

“You are aware that if we force him to do this then we are following the same course of action as Shar Jen when she conjoined the Commander with the Rel Sevanne,” said T’Pol.

“Damn it, T’Pol, it isn’t like that. We’re doing what’s best for him,” said Archer.

“I did not believe when Shar Jen suggested this course of action that you would support her. I thought that you would respect the Commander’s rights and wishes,” said T’Pol. “You have always held the concept of free will very highly, in my experience, and I am interested as to why you have now discarded it.”

“Free will is important, but sometimes it isn’t the top priority. Trip’s too ill to make this decision for himself,” said Archer.

“Did the doctor agree with your assessment?” asked T’Pol and Archer knew that she already had the answer to that question.

“No, he didn’t agree. He thinks that Trip understands his situation well enough to make his own decisions, but he was brainwashed, T’Pol,” said Archer. “He wants to die because he believes the Rel Sevanne was his true calling, because it was the best thing that ever happened to him and nothing will ever be as good.”

“The doctor and I believe that conventional therapy will eventually help the Commander,” said T’Pol.

“Eventually. We don’t have time. He tried to kill himself again, earlier. Trip is a determined individual and I’m worried he’ll find a way and we won’t be able to stop him. Either that or we’ll have to keep him locked up in the brig for good and I don’t think I can do that to him,” said Archer. “Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer.”

“Essentially you are saying that in order to save Earth, we need Commander Tucker, and that as the human saying goes ‘desperate times require desperate measures,’ ” said T’Pol.

“Exactly,” said Archer.

“Shar Jen told us that the only reason she kidnapped Trip was to save her people. I am having difficulty discerning the difference between these two positions,” said T’Pol. “You condemned Shar Jen for conjoining Trip but we are about to force him into undergoing a medical procedure that he does not want. On Vulcan these two would be considered equally reprehensible.”

“As you keep on telling me, we’re not on Vulcan and we’re not on Earth. I will use any means necessary to complete this mission,” said Archer.

“Perhaps you should examine your motivations. Are you doing this for the mission or because you do not wish to lose the Commander?” asked T’Pol.

“Of course I don’t want to lose him,” said Archer, “he’s my friend. And every time I go down to the brig I’m reminded just how close I came to never seeing him again. But saving Earth comes above that.”

“The mission is of great importance but so is what is best for Commander Tucker. You once told me that there was no point in saving humanity if you lost what makes you human in the process,” replied T’Pol.

“Well, maybe I was wrong about that. Perhaps I can’t avoid losing some of my humanity to the Expanse, but if I can save Earth even that will be worth it,” said Archer.

****End of Chapter 26****

“The Goddess stood on the shores of the new land and cried out to her people: “War is over, put down your weapons and fight no more. There will be no more blood spilt in the new land. Make peace with your enemies and walk in my path. Both light and darkness are required to make the day.” And the people rejoiced in the wisdom of the Goddess and dwelled happily in the new land for the rest of their days.”

It was a passage from the Tien holy book and for some reason it had been going round Trip’s brain ever since he’d woken up. Trip scribbled frantically on the padd in front of him. Lieutenant Reed sat beside him, carefully supervising his use of the padd. He had persuaded him to free his right hand so that he could write, after he’d spent some time trying to explain how vital it was that he get this down. The problem was mostly getting the words out of his head and onto the page. He had to get this to the Captain, if the Tien and the Kriel shared the same religion it was possible that they shared the same passage in their scripture, and it practically ordered them to make peace. He planned this as his final act of protection of the Tien.

Rel Sevanne: Light of the Ages, Vor Devrees: Darkness. It was one hell of a coincidence. “Both light and darkness are required to make the day”. It might just be the leverage that they needed. He wasn’t sure that fighting religion with religion was the correct way to do this, but, if it worked, it wouldn’t matter how it was done.

He looked up from the padd to see Captain Archer and Shar Jen enter the cell.

“Shar Jen, they let you come,” said Trip, surprised. After the earlier incident with the knife he hadn’t expected to see her again.

“Yes, En,” said Shar Jen, taking his hand.

“Captain,” said Trip and handed Archer the padd. He didn’t have the strength to come up with the words to explain. Archer read the padd and nodded.

“This is great, Trip. It should help a lot,” said Archer. He wondered if Trip had in fact just handed him the key to the whole mess. Which of course made the fact that he was about to betray his friend even more difficult to bear.

Reed put the restraint back around Trip’s right wrist, he knew what was coming next and didn’t think Trip would be happy about it. Trip sighed and gave Reed a cross look but let the Lieutenant strap his wrist down again. Phlox entered the cell at that moment.

“Trip, you remember we discussed a procedure to help you get better?” asked Archer.

Trip nodded.

“Shar Jen is here to perform it,” said Archer. Alarm flickered across Trip’s eyes. “I don’t want you to worry, Phlox has been over it with her and it’s perfectly safe…”

“No!” shouted Trip and he began to struggle against the restraints. “Please, don’t. Captain, don’t. Jen, please, I don’t want to forget,” he pleaded.

“It’s okay, Trip,” said Archer.

“It’s for the best, En,” said Shar Jen. “You should never have been disconnected, we should have been together for the rest of our days, but the Goddess had other plans for us.” She brushed his hair out of his eyes and Trip had a flash of memory, from when he lay waiting to be conjoined, of Shar Jen performing the same action.

“No,” he said again and shook his head, trying his hardest to make it understood that he didn’t want this. Instead Phlox came forward with a hypospray in his hand. Trip directed an angry look at Archer, he couldn’t believe that his friends were going to do this to him.

“This is just a tranquilliser, Commander, you need to be awake and calm for the procedure,” said Phlox. Trip noted that he didn’t look happy, he didn’t want to do this anymore than Trip did. He felt the cold of the hypospray against his neck and reality began to seem very far away and unimportant. The doctor replaced his IV with a different solution. Something to help Shar Jen wipe his memories, he guessed.

Shar Jen still held his hand as Trip’s eyed glazed over, the drug taking effect. “I will need complete quiet and no distractions for this to work. The process will take several hours. The doctor can stay, but the rest of you should leave.”

“If anything happens to Trip, then you’ll have me to answer to. I want you to call me the moment you’ve finished.” said Archer. “Come on, Lieutenant.” The two officers left the cell.

Reed looked at Archer. His face showed no emotion at all and from experience Reed knew that meant he was hiding his guilt and worry. Archer stood outside the cell looking back at Trip. Shar Jen was holding his hand, staring at Trip in deep concentration and Phlox was monitoring them both.

“Sir, there’s nothing else we can do now,” said Reed.

“It feels like a betrayal, Malcolm,” said Archer.

Reed desperately wanted to answer that it was a betrayal, what they were doing to Trip was wrong. It was just as wrong as what Shar Jen had done to him and here was Reed complicit in the whole thing. Instead he answered “it’s the only thing that we could have done. We need Trip to be well.”

“You look like you could use some rest, Malcolm,” said the Captain. “Why don’t you go to your quarters, I’ll call you when they’re done.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Reed, he took one last look back at Trip and left the brig. He made his weary way back to his quarters, despite the doctor’s orders he hadn’t managed to find much time to rest over the past few days. After discovering that Sharien had found some holes in his security systems, he’d been working night and day to find a fix. When he wasn’t worrying about Trip or sitting with him.

He opened the door to his sparse quarters, hitting the light switch as he entered. He undid the straps that supported his broken arm in its sling and peeled off his uniform. He went to his desk, looking for the padd that contained the novel he was reading, he needed something to take his mind off what was currently taking place in the brig. His eyes rested on a slim black book that he had been meaning to lend to Trip. Nietzsche. Trip had quoted Nietzche at him when he’d woken him from a nightmare after they’d recovered him from the Xindi. Later Reed had asked him about it and the whole conversation had descended into a quote game, fuelled by some Andorian ale that Trip had found in one of the cargo bays.

“What does not kill us makes us stronger,” said Trip, raising his glass.

“That’s too easy, Trip. Nietzsche. And in my experience what doesn’t kill us usually leaves scars,” replied Reed, ruefully.

“Typical Armoury Officer, always grounded in reality,” said Trip, slurring slightly. “You were right though, your turn.”

“Okay, who said: The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on.”

“Do you only do quotes about war? It’s Joseph Heller, from Catch 22.”

“Yes, I didn’t think you were so well read, Commander,” replied Reed.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Lieutenant. How about this one: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

“How does that relate to my quote?”

“I didn’t realise that there had to be a link,” said Trip.

“That is how you play the game,” said Reed, taking another gulp of the Andorian ale.

“You’re just stalling because you don’t know who it is,” replied Trip.

Reed sighed. “I’ve got no idea.”

“Albert Einstein,” said Trip, grinning at his small victory.

The evening had ended with Reed deciding that he needed to borrow some of Trip’s science books and Trip thinking there was some interesting stuff in Reed’s philosophy collection after all. Reed had the book ready to take to Trip the next time he was going past the Commander’s quarters. He flicked it open, trying to remind himself of happier times and of course the one Nietzsche quote that he didn’t want to see lay in front of him.

“He who fights with monsters should take care lest he thereby becomes a monster. If you stare for long into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you.” Reed slammed the book shut.

“Damn it,” he said. “Damn this whole Expanse, and the Xindi, and the Tien and the Kriel. Damn them all to hell and back again.” He threw himself down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, there was no way that sleep was going to come now.

****

It was done.

Shar Jen released her grip on Trip’s hand and watched as his eyes closed. She knew that he was exhausted, he had fought her every step of the way. With every second, with every minute of memory that she deleted, she felt him push back at her to stop. It had exhausted her as well.

“He will sleep now,” said Shar Jen, to Phlox. “It was a success, I was able to isolate the memories of his time as part of the Rel Sevanne and erase them.”

“I will inform the Captain,” said Phlox, moving towards the intercom.

Shar Jen felt her legs give way and she clung to the bed for support. Phlox was suddenly holding her and he sat her down in the chair by the bed. He scanned her and looked worriedly at the results.

“Your energy levels are extremely low,” said Phlox. “We need to get you some food right away.”

“I haven’t ever had to use my deep empathic powers for such a prolonged period before. Memories are complicated and I had to use all of my strength to get through the barriers that Trip En put up,” said Shar Jen.

“Commander Tucker has been getting stronger these past few days. The neural regeneration is proceeding satisfactorily, although slower than I would have hoped,” said Phlox.

“You no longer need to keep him here,” said Shar Jen. “He won’t try to connect with Enterprise’s computer again.”

“I think we will keep him here a little longer until I can be sure of that. Besides, I also need to remove the implants that you and your colleagues grafted into him,” said Phlox.

“I can help you with that,” said Shar Jen.

“Thank you, that would be appreciated,” said Phlox.

“If your Captain will let me.”

“I’ll persuade him. He does occasionally listen to me when it comes to Commander Tucker’s health.”

“I have lost him,” said Shar Jen. “He won’t remember any of the things we shared on the Rel Sevanne, just my deceit. He won’t remember how I cried for him when the sensors could not be disconnected and he won’t remember watching me sleep.”

“No, but perhaps that is for the best too since you will be leaving us soon,” said Phlox. “Now let me contact someone to come and monitor the Commander and then I will take you to the mess hall.”

“And the Captain?” asked Shar Jen.

“He can wait a bit longer,” replied Phlox indifferently.

****

When Trip woke again he saw Phlox standing beside him and for a moment he wondered what was going on. Then he remembered what had happened and felt back for his memories of the Rel Sevanne but they were gone. He remembered waking up in decon and he remembered Shar Jen telling him that he was about to become part of the Rel Sevanne and nothing in between. The was a blank hole where the memories should have been and he wondered what he’d lost along with those memories.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said Phlox cheerfully. “How do you feel?”

What Trip wanted to say was that he felt empty, as if his friends had betrayed him and he was no longer the person that he thought he was. Instead he took the easy way out. “Fine,” he replied. He noticed the restraints had been taken off and was grateful for that.

“You have a visitor, if you feel up to it?” asked Phlox.

“Who?” he asked.

“The Captain,” said Phlox.

“No,” said Trip. “Don’t want to see him.”

Phlox looked a little worried and then understanding. “Very well. I’ll tell him that you’re not up to it at the moment.”

“No, don’t want to see him, ever,” said Trip and turned on his side away from the doctor.

“I understand,” said Phlox, and went to break the news to the man who was pacing outside the brig.

****End of Chapter 27****

Trip tried his best to piece his life back together. Phlox let him read the reports of what had happened on the Rel Sevanne, how he’d been captured by Shar Jen and wired into their computer. He remembered that part, lying on the table while Shar Jen prepared him for conjoining, hoping desperately that the Captain would find him before Shar Jen could carry out her plan. Phlox had removed the implants with Shar Jen’s help and he was now covered in bandages where they had been.

What he didn’t remember was the rest of the detail in the report. Apparently he hadn’t exactly been himself, Phlox had discovered the computer had created a link that was similar to brainwashing, reminding him that he was happy in the computer and his duty was to protect the Tien. Except Phlox seemed to think that at least part of the problem had been that Trip was already looking for comfort after his ordeal with the Xindi. Trip wasn’t sure what to believe about that.

He read everything about how Reed had tried to rescue him and he’d ordered his capture. He cringed inwardly at the thought of how that must have hurt Malcolm. Trip was glad that was one memory that he didn’t have. The Tien had even renamed him so that his name matched their conventions. He’d told Enterprise to leave and wanted to resign his commission. It didn’t sound very much like something that he would do, but then he had no idea what it was like to be conjoined because now he didn’t remember any of it.

The Rel Sevanne and the Vor Devrees going up against each other had obviously been one hell of a battle. He would have liked to get a look at the inter-reality cannon before it was destroyed. He had no memory of the Kriel ship or the battle. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t reach what he’d lost, it was just gone. He still didn’t really believe that the Captain had done it, gone against his express wishes and torn out pieces of his memory just so that he could have his Chief Engineer back.

What he did remember was waking up in decon and feeling completely and utterly desolate. His desperation to reach out and form a link with something. The reasons behind all those feelings were no longer there though, and without that the feelings themselves had no basis. He had been pleased to see Shar Jen but now he didn’t know why, she’d been the one who had got him into this mess. Sure she was pretty and they’d had an interesting chat at dinner that night in the Star Chamber, but nothing to make her anything more to him. If anything, he should hate her for what she had done to him. There was something there though, when he looked at her, something which hadn’t been there before. Or maybe it had and he just didn’t remember it. He doubted he would find what he needed to know about Shar Jen in any of the reports.

T’Pol sat beside him quietly reading a padd, not wishing to disturb her companion’s peace. Even though they had resolved one of Trip’s problem’s he was still recovering from the effects of the virus and the Rel Sevanne collision. Since his memories had been deleted he had experienced several more painful nerve episodes, which Phlox kept on telling him meant that he was getting better but that didn’t make the pain any less unpleasant. Each time T’Pol had been with him, calmly speaking to him until the pain passed or Phlox came to administer an analgesic. He had awoken this morning to find T’Pol beside him and so far she had shown no sign of leaving. Trip was glad of the company, there was still an inexplicable loneliness in him, but at least it seemed to be lessening as the days passed.

“Why’d you let him do it?” Trip asked T’Pol.

“He is the Captain of this vessel, it was his decision,” said T’Pol, looking up from her reading. She didn’t need to ask him what he was referring to.

“But it isn’t…wasn’t…right,” said Trip. His language skills were getting better but he was still having trouble.

“The Captain was within his rights as your Commanding Officer,” said T’Pol.

“He had other options,” said Trip, firmly.

“Which would have taken considerable time,” said T’Pol.

“Did you agree with what he did?” asked Trip.

T’Pol remained silent.

Trip looked at her. “Answer me!”

“I had…reservations,” said T’Pol.

“And…” he searched for the name but it still wasn’t there, “the doctor?”

“His Denobulan medical ethics would not allow him to perform the procedure without your consent. Captain Archer believed that you were not in your right mind and therefore your consent was not required. The Captain told Phlox that he would allow Shar Jen to perform the procedure without his supervision if he did not agree to help. Doctor Phlox was of the opinion that even though you were suicidal, it did not mean that you were unable to choose your own method of treatment. I agreed with him. The early indications were that therapy would be successful in undoing the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning.”

“But…you let him do it,” said Trip.

“I had to follow orders,” said T’Pol and reminded herself what she had thought when Shar Jen had used that excuse. “I had no reason to believe that the procedure was unsafe. And it did achieve the desired effect. You are no longer suicidal.”

T’Pol knew that she wasn’t giving Trip quite the complete picture though. It seemed that Phlox’s trip to the mess hall with Shar Jen had produced answers that would otherwise not have been forthcoming. Phlox had revealed to T’Pol that, for Shar Jen, the procedure had been quite dangerous, especially if she had continued for any longer. As it was, the Tien Artificer had been exhausted and had taken some time to recover her strength. For her own safety she had deleted as little of Trip’s memory as possible, but also for Trip’s sake she had not wanted to take too much from him.

“I want my memories back, T’Pol,” said Trip.

“That is not possible,” said T’Pol. “The Captain did what he believed to be right. You have to trust in the fact that he would not have wished to harm you.”

“Trust him is the one thing that I can’t do at the moment,” replied Trip.

****

“Sun Neer Gen Tespin to Enterprise,” Hoshi picked up the call.

“This is Enterprise, go ahead Flight Commander,” she said.

“Am I correct in assuming that Enterprise has Shar Jen Sar Kerin on board?” asked the Tien pilot.

“You are,” replied Hoshi.

“I am pleased to hear that,” said Sun Neer. “The Tien life pods are approximately two days away from planet fall. I would like to speak to Captain Archer if I may.”

Hoshi put the call from Sun Neer through to the Captain’s ready room. “What can I do for you Flight Commander?” asked Archer.

“I am the highest ranking member of the Tien in the life pod fleet,” said Sun Neer. “However I gather that you have Shar Jen on board your vessel. Were you also able to rescue Squadron Leader Reed and the Patriarch?”

“They’re all safe on Enterprise,” replied Archer. He decided not to mention for the moment that they also had Sharien in their custody. “But the Patriarch will not be resuming his duties.”

“I thought that might be the case. I only wished to confirm their safety. I would like to speak with Shar Jen. If Trip En Ath Tucker is unable to remain Patriarch then Shar Jen must be inaugurated in his place.”

“I’ll arrange for you to be transferred through to Shar Jen’s quarters in a moment. Was there anything else?” asked Archer. He would let Sun Neer talk to Shar Jen but he intended to monitor the call.

“I assume that Enterprise will be waiting when the fleet arrives?” asked Sun Neer.

“You assume correctly. We’ll drop off Shar Jen and be on our way,” said Archer.

“There is one other thing,” said Sun Neer.

****

“They want to what?” asked Reed in a disbelieving tone. He was lying in his bed in his quarters when Archer came to visit him. Phlox had been less than pleased to discover that Reed had not been resting, so had forcibly taken him off the duty roster and ordered him to stay in bed until he said otherwise. Since Phlox had threatened to sedate him if he didn’t comply and had promised to check in on him regularly, he didn’t have much choice but to do as the doctor said.

“They want to give you a medal, Malcolm,” said Archer. “And Trip as well. In fact they have a whole ceremony planned to say thank you to Enterprise for all the help we gave them, with you and Trip as the honoured guests.”

“I don’t believe this. Trip nearly dies after being forced into becoming part of their computer, Enterprise is put in danger when their enemies turn up, countless Tien died and they want to give me a medal? I mean what for? I lost two thirds of my squadron, I’m a lousy pilot and I crashed on the Vor Devrees.”

“And you led the assault on the Vor Devrees, more of your squadron came back than any other, and you risked your life to save Trip, their Patriarch,” said Archer. “You were put in danger more times than I’d like to count during that battle. I’d already put in the paper work for a commendation for you myself, but I was going to wait and tell you when it was confirmed.”

“With all due respect, sir, I really don’t think I deserve it. I wasn’t even able to perform my duties, Commander Tucker was kidnapped right from under my nose,” said Reed.

“I know you still feel bad about what happened, Malcolm, but you have to let it go. There was nothing that you could have done. Besides if it makes the Tien happy let them have their ceremony, it might even improve crew morale, we’ve had precious little else to celebrate lately.”

“Have you spoken to Trip yet about this?” asked Reed.

“I haven’t spoken to Trip, period,” replied Archer swiftly.

“It’s been three days,” said Reed.

“He doesn’t want to see me and I don’t blame him. Phlox is moving him back to his quarters today, I’m hoping that he’ll have cooled off a bit by now,” said Archer.

“And what about Shar Jen and Sharien?”

“I showed them the passage of scripture that Trip gave me. It had quite an effect on Sharien. She started chanting something in ancient Kriel and then asked me to set up a meeting for her with Shar Jen,” said Archer.

“What did Shar Jen say to that?” asked Reed.

“She chanted what sounded like the same thing in ancient Tien and then agreed to the meeting,” said Archer. “I don’t quite understand it myself but it’s got them talking. Shar Jen said something about it being the will of the goddess.”

****

By the time Enteprise reached the planet, Trip had been released to his quarters and thanks to Phlox’s neuro-regeneration therapy was now able to move around on his own with the aid of a walking stick. So long as he didn’t expect to get anywhere quickly. Hoshi was continuing intensive speech therapy but she had reported that Trip had improved considerably over the last couple of days and was doing far better than she had expected. He still had trouble finding the right words and often had to ask people to repeat themselves but he was now forming sentences and at least able to follow a conversation.

However, it was obvious, that although Trip no longer wanted to end his life, he was still miserable. The Captain had tried to see Trip several times but every time the doctor had turned him away saying that Trip didn’t want to see him. Now that Trip was back in his quarters Archer knew that Phlox wouldn’t be around to stop him.

He stood outside Trip’s door looking at the doorbell. He willed his muscles to move and push the button.

“Come in,” said a voice from inside. Archer entered. Trip was lying in bed, a padd in his hand, working on what looked like Engine schematics. He was as usual letting the nanites help him as he worked. Much to Trip’s annoyance, the virus had made his body weak and he still couldn’t stay up for long periods of time. He turned to face his visitor.

“Hi,” Archer said, inadequately. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” said Trip. There was none of the usual warmth in his voice.

“We need to talk,” said Archer.

“No we don’t. I don’t have anything to say to you. I told you that I didn’t want this and you went ahead and did it anyway,” said Trip. Something at the back of his mind kicked him and he had a sense of déjà vu. He dismissed it though, now wasn’t the time.

“Trip, I didn’t have a choice. You would have killed yourself,” said Archer.

“I don’t know who I am anymore!” shouted Trip. “You allowed Shar Jen to take away part of me. I remember being miserable enough that I wanted to kill myself, but I don’t remember why. I remember waking up in decon, being so ill that Phlox had me on life support but I have no idea how it happened. And I remember being very clear about the fact that I didn’t want my memories deleted. I’m really not sure that I can deal with this now, Jon.”

“I know that you’re angry with me at the moment but I just wanted you to be well again. Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer back,” said Archer.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I’ve had enough? My sister is dead, I was tortured by the Xindi, wired into an alien computer and now my best friend has betrayed me,” said Trip.

“I did it because I thought it was the best thing for you,” said Archer.

“Yeah, well, I know you meant well, which is the only thing stopping me from punching your lights out. It’s going to take me a little time to sort out my feelings and right now you’re not my favourite person,” said Trip. “The Doc doesn’t want me back on duty for a while yet, just stay out of my way until then. Our working relationship won’t suffer, I’ll still take your orders. But don’t expect me to call myself your friend any longer.”

“I understand,” said Archer, defeated. “There is one other thing that I need to tell you.” Archer then explained to Trip about the planned celebrations.

****

“This is just great,” said Trip, as Reed pushed him in a wheelchair towards the shuttle bay. They were going down to the planet’s surface for the planned ceremonies and celebrations. “I’m going to be given a medal and I can’t even remember what I did to deserve it.”

“At least you did deserve it,” said Reed.

“Malcolm, from what I read in those reports you practically saved the entire Tien race single-handed,” said Trip. “Besides, you saved my life, again.”

“I’m the one that let you get kidnapped in the first place,” said Reed.

“Stop beating yourself up over this, if anyone got me into this situation then it was me. I’m the one who was paying more attention to Shar Jen than I should have been…Have we had this conversation before?” asked Trip.

“Erm, yes, I suppose so. Or at least a similar one. Just after you’d been conjoined with the Rel Sevanne,” said Reed. “Are you remembering something?”

“No, I’ve just had a strong feeling of déjà vu lately when people have said things to me or I’ve said something. And I have this really strange feeling about Shar Jen, like I know things about her but I can’t remember them,” said Trip. “It’s probably nothing.”

“Trip, you know what will happen if you do remember being part of the Rel Sevanne?” asked Reed. He didn’t agree with Archer’s methods exactly but Trip was so much better now that he didn’t want to lose him again.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll want to kill myself again. I can’t imagine anything being that bad, but if I start to remember stuff I’ll let you know,” said Trip. He decided to change the subject. “So what exactly have they got planned for us?”

“The usual I guess. I’ve sat through more boring ceremonies than I’d like to count.”

“I thought there was meant to be a party as well,” said Trip, with disappointment in his voice.

“Yes. After the medal ceremony and the boring speeches,” said Reed.

“All of a sudden I’m not looking forward to this,” said Trip. “Do I really have to be there?”

“Trip, you led them into battle, I think you need to be there,” said Reed.

“But I don’t remember it,” said Trip. “They’re honouring me for something I don’t remember doing.”

“They remember it, and so do I. You were a good leader, Trip,” said Reed.

“And you’ve got the broken arm to prove it,” said Trip, sarcastically.

“That wasn’t your fault,” said Reed. “You saved a lot of Tien.”

“How about we make a deal? I won’t blame myself for you getting hurt, if you won’t blame yourself for me getting hurt. We’re big enough to look after ourselves, even if I don’t remember any of it,” said Trip.

“I suppose I can live with that arrangement,” said Reed.

“I just have one question,” said Trip.

“And what would that be?” asked Reed, suspecting that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Why’d you dye your hair blond? I mean it’s a good look for you an’ all…”

Malcolm had almost forgotten his hair, it was going to take a while to grow out. The reports obviously hadn’t detailed everything involved in Malcolm’s rescue attempt. “I decided I wanted a change,” he replied, dead pan, pleased to see the confusion it caused Trip.

He pushed the wheelchair the final few yards into the shuttle bay. Travis Mayweather was waiting to take them down to the surface with T’Pol, Phlox and Hoshi. Reed settled Trip on a bench at the back of the shuttle and then took his seat while Phlox fussed over his patient. Trip still got tired very easily and Phlox had insisted on accompanying him to the surface. Every sense in Reed’s head was tingling, he didn’t like any of this. He checked his phase pistol was in its holster for a final time and gave Travis the nod to take off.

****End of Chapter 28****

Archer sat at the controls of Shuttlepod One, he was piloting it down to the new planet below with Shar Jen and Sharien sitting in the back. After much deliberation they had decided to name the planet Ishtar. It meant “goddess” in both Tien and Kriel. The Tien ship’s name, the Rel Ishtari, meant “light of the goddess”. It was the first thing that the two of them had agreed upon, for which Archer was eternally grateful.

Shar Jen and Sharien had spent some time discussing their positions on Tien and Kriel affairs with Archer acting as referee. He would have preferred to use the term mediator but somehow that really didn’t fit with what he’d just experienced. There was now a peace treaty though, ready to be signed at the celebration, after the Tien had honoured Trip and Malcolm with whatever that entailed.

Archer had asked Shar Jen about why the scripture passage had prompted her to talk to Sharien and make peace. The content was obvious but why Shar Jen should take it so seriously was not. Shar Jen just shook her head and said “you really haven’t understood us at all, have you?” And Archer wasn’t sure that she was wrong. These people really were alien to him, their motivations, their morals and their religion. But then he was dealing with a people who considered it quite acceptable to use human components in their computers and had committed genocide over who was the “chosen” people of the goddess even though they were all the same race, just different universes.

After the two women had talked they had both asked to call the highest ranking representatives of their people. From what Hoshi had translated, they had both given orders not to attack the other faction once they reached the planet. Instead Shar Jen had ordered them to begin preparations for the celebration and Sharien had told her people not to interfere. When the lifepods reached planet fall not a single life was lost and the two sides were on amicable terms although still keeping their distance.

A third of Enterprise’s crew was going to be present at the ceremony and it was also being piped directly to Enterprise so that those who weren’t actually physically present could watch it. Archer wished he could have given everyone the day off but in the Expanse that just wasn’t possible, it was business as usual as far as most of the crew was concerned. Lieutenant Reed had of course insisted on a suitable security provision, so the majority of the Security staff were now mingling with the gathering crowd on the surface.

Archer, Shar Jen and Sharien were to be the last to arrive and their arrival would signal the start of the proceedings. Trip and Malcolm would already be on the surface, no doubt Malcolm was pacing and Trip was fidgeting. He could almost see them now. Of course that only reminded him that Trip was angry with him still, he really had hoped that once Trip had seen that Archer had no choice then he would have backed down, but no Trip was still as stubborn as ever. And Archer wasn’t entirely sure that Trip wasn’t well within his rights to hate him. Trip had told him no and he’d ignored it. Archer knew that in a similar situation he’d have been angry too and the problem was Trip had no context to place it against. He had no idea if the memories he’d lost had been important or not, and Archer was sure that, to some extent, it was that lack of knowledge which was causing his current anger.

Archer had hoped that Trip would see, in the cold light of day, what Archer had done was for his own good. He hadn’t though and it didn’t look as if he would. Trip still maintained that it didn’t matter what had happened to him, he was capable of deciding what happened to him and how he was treated. Trip had trusted Archer and that trust had been broken. Of course it didn’t help that Trip still hadn’t recovered from the Vor Devrees virus which sapped his strength and, although his movement and speech skills were still improving, they weren’t back to normal yet. Maybe time was all that Trip needed, but Archer feared that he had lost his friend for good.

He set the shuttle down on the virgin grass beside the hastily erected amphitheatre. The Tien had spent some time working on it and were now arrayed around the left side in their seats. The Kriel sat on the right side, with a suitable gap between them and the Tien. In the middle of the stage waited various Tien and Kriel dignitaries, Sun Neer being the only one that he recognised, with Trip (Phlox hovering beside him), Hoshi and T’Pol.

Archer accompanied Shar Jen and Sharien to the stage. “Where’s Lieutenant Reed?” he asked T’Pol.

“Checking on security arrangements,” said T’Pol. Just as she finished the sentence, Reed came running from the left of the stage.

“Sir, I have to report the theft of a phase pistol,” said Reed, slightly out of breath and looking like a child who’d just told his parent he’d broken something valuable.

“When and where?” asked Archer, immediately falling into business mode.

“About five minutes ago from Ensign Prior. Someone attacked him. We found him unconscious behind the stand. Phlox is seeing to him, but apart from a sore head he’s fine,” said Reed. “We’re already looking for whoever it was.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now, Lieutenant,” said Archer. “We won’t find them in this crowd and we’ve got a peace treaty to sign.”

“Sir, one of these people has a weapon and I can only guess at how they intend to use it but I’m betting it has something to do with that peace treaty,” said Reed.

“Me too, Lieutenant, but we can’t postpone the signing. Without it these people will be at each other’s throats,” said Archer. “Just keep your eyes open.”

Reed didn’t look happy but he said “yes, sir,” and went to stand with Trip.

The medal ceremony was led by Shar Jen and Sharien and wasn’t long but Archer and Reed both spent the entire time scanning the crowd for anyone who might have decided to use the stolen phase pistol.

Reed received his medal with considerable embarrassment at the nice things that were said about him, he also had his honorary rank of Squadron Leader conferred on him permanently and was given the rank insignia to go with it. He was amazed that Sharien added to his list of achievements that he had rescued her from the Vor Devrees, which was a distortion of the truth at the very least.

“I thought Kriel didn’t lie,” whispered Reed as she approached him to give him the Kriel equivalent of the medal that the Tien had just bestowed upon him.

“We don’t. You did rescue me. I just didn’t realise it at the time,” whispered Sharien back. Reed allowed himself a small smile.

When it came to Trip’s turn, he pushed himself out of the wheelchair and stood slightly unsteadily, Phlox standing unobtrusively nearby in case he wasn’t able to stay upright. Shar Jen listed his achievements as Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne, how his orders had saved countless Tien lives and prevented the loss of more Kriel lives. Another stretch of the truth he thought, as Shar Jen placed the ribbon of the medal over his head and Sharien did the same, but a necessary one if the Tien and Kriel were ever to get along.

Finally, they came to Enterprise’s contribution. How Archer and his crew had saved first the Tien and then the Kriel by disabling the inter-reality cannon and helping in the evacuation. It was all met by thunderous applause and cheering, although perhaps more from the Tien side than the Kriel.

“We have one final duty to perform,” said Shar Jen, “Sharien and I have negotiated a treaty between our two peoples that will ensure our continued peace and prosperity on our new home of Ishtar. I quote from the Book of the Tien and the Book of the Kriel:”

“The Goddess stood on the shores of the new land and cried out to her people: “War is over, put down your weapons and fight no more. There will be no more blood spilt in the new land. Make peace with your enemies and walk in my path. Both light and darkness are required to make the day.” And the people rejoiced in the wisdom of the Goddess and dwelled happily in the new land for the rest of their days.”

And then something remarkable happened, the entire crowd chanted in unison. “Ishtar sanvigo rel sevanne dare sophista con biblos di telaru se tren vor devrees legat.” It was exactly as Shar Jen and Sharien had responded when Archer had shown them the passage from the Tien holy book.

“What does that mean?” Archer asked Hoshi in a whisper.

“The goddess, through the light of ages and the saints, gave us wisdom in the book to guide us through the long night. The word of the book is law,” replied Hoshi. “The Tien and Kriel ancient languages are more similar than the modern ones.”

Archer nodded. It all made sense now. The word of the book was law and if the book told them to make peace then that is what they did, and coming from Trip, as it had, Shar Jen had regarded it very seriously indeed.

The treaty was laid on a table ready to be signed by the two parties concerned. Sharien stepped forward to sign it for the Kriel but rather than Shar Jen signing the treaty for the Tien, she instead helped Trip to the table and placed the stylus in his hand.

“You want me to sign it?” asked Trip, unsure. “I’m not sure that I have the authority.”

“Until you depart this system, you are still Patriarch and therefore the highest ranking Tien official,” said Shar Jen.

“Shar Jen, I don’t remember being your Patriarch,” said Trip.

“That isn’t important. What is important is that the peace treaty between the Kriel and Tien is signed,” said Shar Jen. “And you are the one, En, who should sign it.”

Sharien signed her name in scrawling Kriel script and waited for Trip to append his signature to the document.

“Stop!” came a shout from the crowd. A low murmur rose from the crowd as one of the Kriel stepped forward, holding Ensign Prior’s phase pistol.

“Nordiss,” hissed Sharien. “I thought that you were dead.”

“You’re looking good for a dead woman as well. This is not lawful!” shouted the Kriel Exarch.

“The word of the goddess is law!” said Sharien.

“Both Kriel and Tien agreed that this was the will of the goddess. The book is very clear,” said Shar Jen.

“I don’t care what the book says. This is not the Kriel way,” said Nordiss. “You won’t do this to our people.” He turned the phaser on Trip and fired. Archer didn’t even think, he just reacted. Trip was in danger. He ran towards Trip and pushed him to the ground, feeling the phaser burn into his back as he did so. Trip had the wind knocked out of him as Archer slammed into him.

“Trip, you okay?” said Archer in a strained voice, the blond head nodded weakly and Archer passed out.

“Phlox!” yelled, Trip. He didn’t have the strength to move the Captain off him but he could already tell that the wound was serious.

Reed had already pulled his phase pistol and was covering the wounded Captain and Trip. He motioned for Phlox to stay out of the way until the gunman was dealt with, they didn’t need another person to be shot by this mad man. The rest of the security officers had heard the commotion and were on their way towards the stage at top speed, but weren’t in range yet. At the moment it was a stand-off between Reed and Nordiss.

“Hold it there, Nordiss,” said Reed. “I have you covered, it’s hopeless. You’ve lost your chance, and you’re surrounded. You’re not getting to Commander Tucker.” The crowd had gone completely silent.

“That treaty is not being signed,” said Nordiss, angrily.

Sharien moved towards Nordiss, her hands held out in a placatory gesture. “This is the future of both our peoples,” said Sharien. “Please don’t jeopardise that.”

He turned the weapon towards Sharien. “If you don’t put that weapon down, I’ll kill her.” He started to pull Sharien in front of him.

Reed fired once, aiming carefully to avoid Sharien and Nordiss fell to the ground.

“Doctor!” shouted Reed, immediately going to the Captain and pulling him off Trip. Trip tried to sit up but found that his chest was very painful. Phlox pushed him back down, before he went to examine the Captain.

“Severe phaser burn. He was lucky that he didn’t get the full blast, it would have killed him. He must have moved through the beam, when he pushed Commander Tucker out of the way,” said Phlox. “We need to get him back to Enterprise now so that I can tend to his wounds.” Two of Reed’s security men loaded the Captain face down onto a stretcher and made their way back to the shuttlepod. Phlox turned round to Trip and ran his scanner over him. “Commander, you have a broken rib.”

“That explains why it hurts so damn much,” said Trip. “Just give me some painkillers, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that you think so but as your doctorate isn’t in medicine, perhaps you’d listen to me. You’re going back to Enterprise too, so that I can set your rib,” said Phlox.

“I’ve got to sign the treaty first,” said Trip.

Phlox sighed, pressed a hypospray of painkiller to the Commander’s neck and watched as Lieutenant Reed helped him up and over to the table. Trip made his spider’s crawl of a signature before Reed helped him back to his wheelchair. Suddenly a cheer erupted around the amphitheatre, the whole of the people were celebrating their new found peace.

“Typical,” said Trip, as T’Pol wheeled him back towards the shuttlepod.

“What is, Commander?” asked T’Pol.

“That’s going to be one hell of a party and even though I’m the honoured guest, I’m going to miss it,” said Trip.

“I’m sure the doctor will let you come back once your wounds have been tended to,” said T’Pol.

“That’s not it, T’Pol. There’s someone I need to talk to and I don’t think he’s going to be awake for a while.”

Reed looked down at his captive. Nordiss, the Kriel Exarch. He had been completely loyal to Corvas and when Sharien had been about to make peace with the sworn enemies of the Kriel, he had seen no alternative but to assassinate the Tien Patriarch. Even though Trip was no longer wired into the Rel Sevanne, it was clear that the Tien still regarded him as one of their own, and Reed hated to think what would have happened if it had been Trip who had been shot. It was bad enough that the Captain had been shot protecting Trip, but if Trip had been killed or even only injured, the Tien would have blamed the Kriel and no doubt it would have restarted all the feuding. Things on the planet were going to be hard enough, without more bad feeling between the two races.

“What are you going to do with him?” Reed asked Sharien.

“We don’t have a brig yet,” said Sharien, “we had hoped not to need one so soon. A number of my security men survived and some of the Tien security force, between them I’m sure we’ll work something out.”

“Everyone saw what he tried to do,” said Shar Jen. “Even the Kriel aren’t supporting him.”

“Unlike Nordiss most of my people respect the word of the goddess,” said Sharien.

“Will Trip En and Captain Archer be okay?” asked Shar Jen.

“Phlox is taking good care of them. I should think they’ll be fine, although it might be a little while before the Captain is up and about again,” said Reed. “So what happens now for the Tien and the Kriel?”

“Shar Jen and I have agreed that we will be joint Matriarchs of our people,” said Sharien.

“We have decided that as we are now all one people that we will be known as the Ishtari,” said Shar Jen.

“I would have thought that the way you two argue about everything you’ll never agree on anything,” said Reed.

“We’ve come to realise over the past few days that there are more similarities than there are differences between out people,” said Sharien.

“I would like to say goodbye to Trip En,” said Shar Jen. Reed hesitated. This woman had been nothing but trouble but he couldn’t think of a good reason to deny her access to Trip to say goodbye since he probably wouldn’t be returning to the planet before they left. Shar Jen remembered all the time that they had spent together even if Trip didn’t.

“You’ll have to be quick the shuttle will be taking off soon,” said Reed. With permission given, Shar Jen ran for the shuttlepod.

“She is so impetuous,” said Sharien.

“Yes, you may look the same but you aren’t,” said Reed.

“There is one thing that we have in common,” said Sharien. She took a step towards the Lieutenant and suddenly she was kissing him. Reed was completely taken by surprise. Eventually she broke away. “We both fell for Enterprise officers,” she said and with that she walked away, giving orders to the Ishtari security officers as she went. Reed stood, stunned for a moment and then turned and went towards the shuttle.

As he approached he saw Shar Jen talking to Trip who was sat in his wheelchair beside the shuttle.

“I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said to Trip.

“I would say it was nice meeting you, but to be honest, I’m not sure that it was,” said Trip, coldly.

“You did understand, once,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, when I was being brainwashed by your computer,” said Trip.

“En, you had to accept what the computer told you. If you had rejected it, the conjoining would have failed,” said Shar Jen. “The Rel Sevanne told you that you needed to protect the Tien, but you felt the emotions and lives of two thousand Tien. The reason why you tried to commit suicide was because you could no longer feel the ship, it was like you’d suddenly lost your entire family. Being part of a living ship is a powerful thing.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Trip.

Shar Jen took his hand and Trip tried to pull away but she held on. “Remember,” said Shar Jen. Suddenly Trip felt part of his mind unlock and out spilled memories that he thought Shar Jen had erased. His face went pale. Reed was beside him and he hadn’t even seen him approach.

“Trip, are you okay?” asked Reed.

“I remember,” said Trip in amazement.

“Oh no,” said Reed, a cold weight descending on him. “What did you do that for?” he asked Shar Jen angrily. “Isn’t it enough that you took him to be part of your computer, drove a wedge between him and the Captain, now you have to do this?”

“No, Malcolm, it isn’t what you think,” said Trip. “She didn’t give me my memories back. She gave me hers.” He turned to Shar Jen. “You really do love me.”

“Yes, En,” said Shar Jen. “But you don’t love me.”

“Jen, I’m sorry,” said Trip, gently. He knew that he couldn’t hide anything from an empath. “Even if I did love you I couldn’t have stayed. My life is on Enterprise.”

“I know,” said Shar Jen. “Your friends will take care of you.”

“Yeah, they will,” said Trip. “They always do.”

****

When Archer awoke in sickbay he was surprised to find Trip asleep in his wheelchair beside the bed. Firstly as far as Archer was aware Trip hadn’t conquered his fear of sickbay and secondly Trip hadn’t said two words to him since their conversation two days ago.

“Ah Captain, you’re awake,” said the cheerful voice of Doctor Phlox.

Archer was lying on his front, and tried to twist around to see the doctor but his back protested and he remembered why he was in sickbay in the first place. He managed to turn onto his side without too much pain.

“What’s the damage, Doctor?” asked Archer.

“You have a severe phaser burn across your back. It’s going to take some time to heal, even with my help. I’ve applied an antiseptic to the wound and dressed it, but I’m afraid it is going to be quite painful. I’ve also put in an IV line to replace your lost fluids and administer antibiotics to prevent infection.”

Archer nodded and then looked over at Trip. “How long has he been here?”

“Ever since he returned from the planet, shortly after we brought you in,” said Phlox.

“He doesn’t like sickbay,” said Archer.

“I know. It was quite an internal battle for him to come in here, but he didn’t want you to wake up without him being here,” said Phlox.

“Is he okay?” asked Archer.

“He had a broken rib, which I’ve set and given him painkillers for but apart from that he sustained no further injuries.”

“I hit him too hard,” said Archer, guiltily.

“If you hadn’t moved quickly, he would be dead,” said Phlox. “You saved his life.”

“I’m not sure that he’ll thank me for that,” said Archer.

“I think you’d better discuss that with him,” said Phlox. “I was going to wake him anyway, he’ll wake up with a stiff neck if he continues to sleep in that position.”

Phlox shook Trip by the shoulder gently and he woke with a jolt, looking around him with frightened eyes before he took in Phlox and Archer and relaxed. He’s still getting bad dreams, thought Archer, and coming into sickbay can’t have helped him.

“Hey, you’re awake,” said Trip, smiling.

“Yeah, sorry about the broken rib,” said Archer.

Trip laughed. “You save my life and then apologise? You’ve got nothing to apologise for, Captain. But I guess I have something. I shouldn’t have been so angry with you about deleting my memories, you did what you thought was right given the available information and the mission that we’re on. I‘ve been proud to call myself your friend over the years and I hope you’ll accept my apology.”

Archer looked at Trip, he couldn’t quite believe what Trip was saying.

“You see I thought that you didn’t really care about me, you just wanted your Chief Engineer back, but then you saved my life by putting yourself in danger, and I realised that wasn’t what this was about at all. And then Shar Jen shared her memories with me of everything that’s happened and I know just what you’ve been feeling recently.”

“Wait, Shar Jen did what?” asked Archer

“Well I was upset about the memories that I’d lost, you know that. So Shar Jen gave me hers,” said Trip.

“She can do that?” asked Archer.

“Seems that way, helped me sort out a few things,” said Trip. “At least I know why Malcolm dyed his hair now,” he grinned. Then he was serious again. “But you have to realise, Captain, that I really did know what I was saying when I asked you not to take my memories. My wanting to commit suicide had nothing to do with the Rel Sevanne conditioning, it was more like culture shock. I’d been used to feeling the emotions of two thousand Tien and hearing reports from across the computer constantly. Suddenly I was completely alone and it was scary and it hurt. But I think Phlox was right, therapy would have worked eventually.”

“What are you saying? That I was wrong but you forgive me?” asked Archer. Privately he wondered if they would have been able to keep Trip alive for long enough for therapy to have worked, but he didn’t want to destroy things between him and Trip again, so he kept quiet.

“Pretty much,” said Trip. “I understand why you did what you did. And now Shar Jen has given me her memories I can piece together enough of what happened from the reports and her memories to get a picture of what happened. It’s really bizarre watching your life through someone else’s eyes but it’ll do. Are we okay?”

“Yes, Trip, we’re okay,” replied Archer.

“Good, because I’ve been saving this for a rainy day, but since it doesn’t rain in space and I think we could both use some cheering up…” Trip pulled out a data-chip from the top pocket of his uniform. “Stanford versus UCLA.”

“Water polo?” asked Archer.

“Of course,” replied Trip. “Unless you’re not feeling up to it. I can always save it for another day…” Trip started to move as if to leave.

“Hold it right there,” said Archer smiling. “I’m always well enough to watch water polo.”

****

It was a week since the Ishtari had wished Enterprise well on their mission and they had continued further into the Expanse. Archer found himself on his way down to Engineering once again.

“Trip what the hell are you doing down here?” he asked as he approached his Chief Engineer. Trip was still sitting in a wheelchair, as that was the easiest way for him to get about at the moment, while members of the Engineering staff bustled around him. “Doctor’s orders were that you’re off duty for at least another two weeks.”

“Yeah, yeah,” dismissed Trip. “It’s just that I’ve got all this Engineering data from the Rel Sevanne going around my head and the nanites have been working on some simulations for me and I thought…”

“Trip, no,” said Archer. “You’re meant to be resting.”

“I don’t have time to rest,” replied Trip.

“Hand them over,” said Archer.

“What?” asked Trip.

“The padds with the schematics on,” said Archer.

“Aw come on Captain, I’m bored out of my mind sitting around doing nothing,” said Trip.

“Do I have to order you to watch a movie again?” asked Archer.

Trip blinked at the sudden change in tone. “Do I get to pick?” asked Trip.

Archer knew that he was going to regret this. “Sure, you get to pick,” said Archer, taking the handles of the wheelchair and pushing Trip out of Engineering once more. He had a horrible sinking feeling that he was going to spend the rest of his evening watching black and white horror movies. Which meant, he thought happily, that things were back to normal.

The End!

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