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What Does Not Kill Us - Chapter 4

Author - Thalia Drogna
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What Does Not Kill Us

by Thalia Drogna

Rating: R
Genre: Action/Adventury, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

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

~~~

Chapter 4

Archer hadn’t given up on Trip by any means. He was certain that the Engineer still had to be alive. It wouldn’t have served the Xindi to kill him. He was almost certain by this point that, if he was being objective, he should have broken off the search for his Chief Engineer. It had been over a month and a more dispassionate Captain would have continued on with the mission abandoning Trip. Maybe he was being irrational, but he really didn’t care if he was. He held on to the belief that Trip still hadn’t given up any information and that they could still find him before that happened and contain the security risk. That’s what he put in his logs, he needed to find the Chief Engineer because of the technical information he knew. He didn’t care if he was court marshalled at the end of the mission, assuming there was anything left of Earth to be court marshalled by, he had to find Trip.

It was a good lead that Malcolm had brought back from the space station. It had been corroborated by other ships they had met on the way. Archer hoped that they weren’t being led on a wild goose chase. Archer spent a lot of time looking out at the stars as if he could pick up clues to Trip’s whereabouts out of the vacuum. Suddenly the intercom sounded and woke Archer back to the present, it was T’Pol.

“Captain, I have detected a ship on long range sensors. If we go to warp 5 we might be able to catch them within the week,” said T’Pol.

“Is it the Xindi?” asked Archer.

“It is hard to tell at this range but I believe it to be a strong possibility,” said T’Pol.

****

After they gave up taking Trip’s blood, they experimented with various drugs. Not all of them agreed with him, one in particular caused a violent allergic reaction, his skin burned with an angry red rash that aggravated the bruises. It itched and he couldn’t help scratching, he could stop himself mostly while he was awake but his automatic reactions kicked in when he slept and he often woke to find he’d been scratching himself red raw in his sleep. He wasn’t sure whether he told them anything when they used the drugs but they kept asking him the same questions so he clung to the hope that he hadn’t given up anything.

When the drugs didn’t work they went back to beating him. Trip still hung on to his silence. His throat was raw from the screams which they wrung from him, but the screams were getting weaker, as he knew he was too. Occasionally they sent what he assumed to be their equivalent of the ship’s physician to check him over. They didn’t want to kill him after all. His uniform no longer fitted properly and he knew he must have lost a lot of weight. He spent most of the time, when they weren’t asking him questions, building up barriers against the pain that was now always with him in some way. He shut out as much as he could but he knew he couldn’t hang on much longer. If they continued then he knew they’d kill him soon. They might not mean to but one day they’d go too far and he’d stop breathing.

They took him to the lab again and he blocked out what they did to him there, it was too painful. He’d stopped hoping that Enterprise would come for him. Jon must have written him off, it had been too long. They must have had to continue on to find the Xindi weapon. He felt his mind retreat somewhere away from the pain. He didn’t even register the ship shaking as it was attacked.


****


Reed opened the door to the cell and saw his friend lying on the floor, curled on his side. “Jesus Christ, Trip!” he said as he saw the engineer. He went to his friend and felt for a pulse, it was there but it was weak and thready. “What the hell did they do to you?” He got out his communicator. “Reed to Archer, I’ve found him, sir.”

“Get him out of there,” said Archer.

“I’d prefer not to move him until Phlox has a look,” said Reed.

“Okay, I’ll get Phlox and meet you,” said Archer. “How is he?” He almost didn’t want to ask the question, he was afraid of the answer.

“He’s breathing, I don’t think I can say more than that until Phlox gets here,” replied Reed.

Reed looked at Trip, there was blood everywhere and bruises. If he hadn’t recognised the blond hair and the uniform he might not have even realised that it was Trip. His uniform had been ripped to reveal more injuries across his upper body, and his right arm was lying at a sickening angle that made Reed think it was broken. There was nothing that he could do for Trip until Phlox arrived so he concentrated on guarding the cell from any stray Xindi who hadn’t been disposed of by the marines’ attack. It was either that or face what had been done to Trip and he didn’t think he could cope with that at the moment without loosing the professional attitude that he relied upon to do his job. If they were going to get Trip out of here then he needed to remain focused.

Of all the people to pick why did it have to be their good-natured Chief Engineer. Trip always had an air of innocence about him, as if space was still a place full of wonder for him. Reed would have given anything for Trip not to be lying on the floor, bruised and beaten beyond recognition.

Phlox and Archer appeared at the door and Reed dropped his phaser to let them enter. Phlox took out his tricorder and started to scan Trip. Reed saw Archer turn pale as he looked at his friend’s injuries and he heard him mutter “oh god” very softly. Those two words contained as much pain as Reed had ever heard.

“Trip, just hold on a little longer,” said Archer to the still form.

The almost lifeless body twitched slightly. “Jon?” Trip whispered. “Not real,” he muttered to himself.

“Trip, it’s okay, it’s Jon,” said Archer. He wanted to reach out a hand to Trip but he couldn’t see any part of his skin that wasn’t covered in angry red rash, bruises or blood. He didn’t want to risk aggravating any of the injuries Trip had sustained. Archer noticed as well how painfully thin Trip looked and how pale.

“Dreaming. Jon wouldn’t come,” he muttered again. Trip’s eyes prised themselves open in an obvious effort of will power. They were dull compared to their previous brightness and unseeing. Archer felt a wave of guilt wash over him for Trip’s final remark.

“Trip, we’re going to take you back to Enterprise. Everything’s okay now,” said Archer.

“I’m going to give you something for the pain, Commander” said Phlox and pressed a hypospray against Trip’s neck, it hissed and Trip’s eyes closed again. “We can move him now,” said Phlox to Archer.

Two stretcher bearers arrived and Phlox supervised as they lifted the Commander gently onto the stretcher. Reed and Archer covered their retreat back to Enterprise, Phlox constantly monitored Trip’s condition as they journeyed back through the corridors to Enterprise.

It was only when they had Trip safely back in Sick Bay with Phlox ministering to him that Archer finally let his guard down. He was so angry, how could anyone do to another living being what had been done to Trip. He paced up and down in the corridor outside sick bay, with Reed leaning against the door waiting to hear what the doctor had to say. Phlox had thrown them both out of sick bay when it became obvious that they would get in his way if he allowed them to remain. They both wanted to be beside Trip, but if they were honest with themselves they knew that there was nothing they could do for the moment.

A little later Phlox emerged and asked the two men to join him in sick bay. Trip had been placed on a biobed in a corner of sickbay and surrounded by curtains. Phlox had hooked him up to various monitors then made quiet clicks and beeps as they kept watch on Trip’s condition.

“I don’t know where to start,” said Phlox in a tone of utter desolation that Archer had never heard him use before. “He’s obviously been tortured continuously for a number of weeks. He is malnourished, dehydrated and in a lot of pain. His right arm, all the fingers of his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, his left foot and four of his ribs are broken. There are various drugs in his system, some of which he appears to be allergic to and have caused difficulty with his breathing and a skin condition. They appear to have removed the skin from a portion of his right foot, it hasn’t had a chance to heal so I would say that was very recent. There are also numerous scars, burns and bruises.”

At each new injury that the doctor listed the men winced inwardly. Archer clenched both his fists and looked over at his sleeping friend.

“Can we see him?” asked Malcolm.

“I have him heavily sedated, I think it would be best if I kept him in that condition for a few days. I don’t know what level of pain he is experiencing at the moment but I doubt I have any painkillers that would be strong enough to deal with it. You can see him, but I intend to make sure that he won’t be aware for many days to come,” finished Phlox.

“I know you’re doing your best for him,” said Archer. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m needed on the bridge.” Reed and Phlox watched him leave.

“I’ve never seen him look so angry,” said Reed.

“It is an expected reaction to Commander Tucker’s condition,” said Phlox. “I myself find it very hard to deal with.”

“How could they do this to him,” said Reed. He looked over at the pale, thin, body of Commander Tucker, he couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain that Trip had experienced but he vowed the Xindi would pay. He went over to sit with Trip. Even though he was unconscious, Reed was so glad to have the Commander back. He cried quiet tears of relief, hoping that no one heard him. He looked over at Trip and began to cry more silent tears for how ill Trip was.

Outside sick bay Archer had stopped in the corridor, he turned and put his head against the wall. He balled his hand into a fist and hit the wall as hard as he could. It hurt but he needed the pain. He felt responsible and he still couldn’t get Trip’s words out of his head. “Jon wouldn’t come.” Obviously Trip had given up hope of rescue. How could he have let them take Trip like that and it had taken so long to find him, over two months. During all of that time Trip had been undergoing unbelievable pain and Archer couldn’t forgive himself for allowing it to happen.

He went to the bridge. “Ensign, are all our men disembarked from the hostile ship?” he asked Hoshi.

“Yes, sir, the Major just checked in. All personnel have been accounted for,” said Hoshi.

“And the Xindi?” he asked turning to T’Pol.

“Most were killed in the battle, a few fled in the life pods. They should not cause us any further trouble,” replied T’Pol.

“Sub-commander I want that ship destroyed. Load torpedoes and fire on the hostile ship,” said Archer.

T’Pol raised an eyebrow but complied with the Captain’s request. They watched the ship explode in a fire ball of twisted metal. Archer had hoped it would make him feel better, but it didn’t. It was just him hitting his fist on another wall.


Continue to Chapter 5

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