Chapter 22: Unexpected

The automated alarm went off in the still make-shift sickbay of Salem One and it took Phlox a moment to realize what it actually meant. One of Lieutenant Sato's changes and improvements to the stations communication and computer systems was to couple any critical alarms on the station to the systems in sickbay. Since the station was destined to become a repair facility and with the inherent dangers of engineering, it had been decided that any critical alarms in one of the workshops or any other engineering sections would automatically summon a medical team.

"Section C17, that's where the cargo ship is docked," Amanda Cole said calmly and took one of the stretchers from the wall. It had been tied there for exactly such purposes.

Phlox fetched his med-kit from the office and hurried after Amanda and two other medical assistants. Not for the first time he felt a great gratitude that Amanda Cole was a trained MACO field medic. She hadn't really be used in that capacity – after all she had been promoted to the commanding officer of Enterprise's MACO detachment – but lacking any other tasks, she had handed over command of the soldiers to her XO and had recently taken to helping Phlox with the numerous injured people in the aftermath of the battle.

Phlox felt a certain sadness about the fact that she would return to her primary job when Enterprise would ship out again. Never since Liz Cutler had he had such an adept assistant.

The first thing he registered was that he was on the cold floor of Engineering and slowly the the receding panic made room for his short-time memories. As soon as the life support systems had cleared the air of most of the toxic coolant the emergency bulkheads had been opened again. He hand not waited for them to open fully before he crawled back in.

By the time Phlox made it to Engineering on the old UEC ship, his medics and Travis and Paul Maywheather in tow, the bulkheads were fully open, but instead of rushing back in, the engineers were lining the walls left and right – effectively creating an access lane for Phlox and his medics.

While still wondering why especially the Vulcan engineers looked uncharacteristically unsettled, Phlox stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw shook him no less than the Vulcans. Commander Tucker, wearing a dirty and torn uniform knelt beside a Vulcan, who lay flat on his back and to Phlox's shock Commander Tucker seemed to be attempting a mind-meld. If he did, it wasn't overly successful, Phlox realized. The Chief was struggling, gasping for air and coughing violently.

Without a second thought, Phlox raced to the scene and yanked Commander Tucker back by the collar. With a loud thud the human landed on the cold floor.

Quickly hovering his scanner over him, Phlox realized that the Vulcan was deeply unconscious and his life probably hung by a string, but he was still alive. If that would be because or despite whatever Commander Tucker had attempted to do was still to be decided.

Signaling his team to carry away the Vulcan to sickbay, Phlox turned toward Commander Tucker, who was staring at him, clutching his neck, which confused Phlox as a quick scan revealed that Commander Tucker had no respiratory problems whatsoever. In fact except for some minor, rather unusual skin burns the Commander seemed remarkably uninjured. That certainly was not a common occurrence. Whenever something went wrong in Engineering, Commander Tucker had an unnerving talent to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Why did you attempt a mind meld?" Phlox asked sternly.

"No... , no mind meld," the human still struggled as if he had been choked. "Not telepathic enough."

"So what were you doing?" Phlox asked and waited for Commander Tucker to get his breathing under control.

"I tried to see if his mind is still working," he explained. "I think he put himself in a trance to save on oxygen when the air was contaminated, but he's having a bad time. Get one of the priests to him on the double!"

"Let me decide that," Phlox began, but to his shock Commander Tucker grabbed him by the collar.

"NOW!" the human demanded with a growl and Phlox realized that the angrily flaring nostrils of the human meant that he was not open to negotiation.

"I will summon the priest," a voice from the side said and when the Engineer seemed to recognize her, he thankfully let go of Phlox's collar.

Phlox took a step back.

"I believe you should accompany me to sickbay, Commander."

Surprisingly enough the Commander acquiesced without a word - another first.

When the door to sickbay opened and the doctor entered with a badly disheveled Commander Tucker in tow, T'Len was still watching the elder, who was performing a healing meld on Terval. The scene was watched by herself and the human woman, who had helped carry him here.

All her life she had been told that humans were considerably weaker than Vulcans and that female humans were yet weaker than their males, but when she had taken one end of the stretcher from a struggling young human male, she had found it quite challenging to keep up with the pace of the human female on the other end of the primitive carrying device.

Whether that considerable feat meant that the female was just an extra-ordinarily strong specimen of her species was difficult to decide, especially since her whole experience with the humans had been the last few days on the station. But another theory started to build in her mind. The human female hovered near the biobed and watched the scene visibly upset. It appeared that the female was inappropriately attracted to the Vulcan they had carried here. That would provide an alternative explanation for her sudden physical prowess.

She willed herself away from these thoughts – after all, such interest in another being's attraction was inappropriate itself. She came to full consciousness just in time to notice Commander Tucker coming to a stop in front of her.

"Thank you, T'Len," he said and indicated towards the biobed and the already busy priest as an answer to her inquisitively raised eyebrow.

She answered the redundant expression of gratitude with a nod, but to her surprise she found that, strangely, such acknowledgment of her actions was not at all disagreeable.

"When this is over," she heard the Commander still addressing her. "I want you to come to my office. I think it is time we talk about your place on the engineering team."

"Did I not fulfill my duties adequately?"

"Adequately?" the human said. "You're one of the best, T'Len. I don't wanna kick you out. I want to increase your responsibilities. But more on that later. Phlox and his pets are waiting."

The human walked away and T'Len left sickbay to return to engineering. There was a coolant leak to investigate.

Phlox dimmed the lights of sickbay and put the privacy screens back into place.

"I think you should go to rest now, Sergeant," he said softly. "I'm sure Terval would appreciate your company, but it doesn't help if you succumb to exhaustion."

Nodding, the woman stood up from the chair at Terval's side - very reluctantly.

"You like him a lot, don't you?" Phlox asked.

She only nodded and blushed slightly, which to Phlox was rather amusing.

"Commander Tucker would probably say 'this comes out of left field'," Phlox said and offered her a cup of tea from his office. "I believe that is a sporting reference of some kind."

"Thanks, yes it is, it means something comes completely unforeseen and unexpected," Amanda answered and took the offered cup and took a seat.

"I do not wish to hurt you, Sergeant, but you should keep in mind that Terval is most likely betrothed to a Vulcan female and only few Vulcans are really amenable to entering an interspecies relationship."

"He isn't betrothed," Amanda said. "He was married, but his mate died during the bombardment of the Forge. She was a Syrranite."

Phlox gasped slightly. "He told you that?"

Amanda nodded again. "We've been working for days to investigate the sleepers. We spent several days together and for a Vulcan he was quite interested in humans and me in particular. That's when it hit me," she admitted, blushing.

"Ah that is why the Captain kept me waiting until I could finally welcome you to our ranks," Phlox said with a knowing smile.

"We talked a lot, really. He's of the same clan as Trip and wants to know more about humans."

"Sharing such a delicate detail as the death of his mate is quite an intimate gesture, coming from a Vulcan," Phlox said. "I of course cannot tell if Terval returns your affection, but he appears to be quite comfortable around you."

"I think it's more than that," a voice from the door said and Phlox saw Commander Tucker approaching.

"I'm sorry to barge in like that," he said. "But you didn't really notice that I entered a couple moments ago already."

"It's okay," Amanda said with a small smile, but Phlox did not necessarily agree. He did not like someone to intrude in his talks with other crew members.

Commander Tucker took a seat and looked at Amanda.

"When I tried to reach his mind, I found myself drowning in the sea. If I would be able to meld properly, I would have known what's going on, but I only could pick up stray thoughts and emotions – whatever was resonating from his last conscious minutes. During my telepathy training I learned to transform Vulcan emotions and thought pattern to images. That could only mean he had put himself into the trance to save on oxygen when he came close to asphyxiation."

"That's why you had breathing problems," Phlox pointed out.

"Exactly," the Commander said. "The most amazing thing though was that I got rescued, and it had nothing to do with you yanking me away Phlox."

"What happened?" Amanda asked and to Phlox it appeared as if she was most fascinated by that insight into the Vulcan's mind.

"You, dragged me out of the water, Amanda," Commander Tucker said. "His last conscious thought must have been about you and trust me for a Vulcan that means a tad more than just being 'comfortable' around you."

Phlox watched the face of Amanda Cole turn to a deep red color. No other species gave away so much about their emotions by changing the color of their skin.

"In fact, I think we should try something," Commander Tucker said and stood up to walk over to the biobed, indicating Phlox and Amanda to follow.

"What do you have in mind?" Phlox asked and grabbed a scanner.

"That," he answered and pointed at the device in Phlox's hand. "Have his vital signs increased since T'Pol and I were in here this afternoon?"

"No," Phlox said sadly. "In fact his heart stopped two times. But with Ms. Cole always at his side we could at least react very soon. It will also take days to get all the toxins out of his blood."

"Now Amanda, take his hand," the Commander instructed and Phlox had to fight another monstrous smile about the enthusiasm with which she followed that order.

To Phlox's surprise she didn't merely grab the Vulcan's hand. She took it and put it on her cheek with a tenderness that Phlox thought was in stark contrast to her image of being a battle-hardened MACO. He was sure that this was what she had wanted to do all day, but hadn't dared to, knowing that Vulcans were adverse to uninvited contact.

"Check the vitals, doc," Commander Tucker instructed.

"Fascinating," Phlox mused, double-checking his data. "It's not a drastic improvement, but his heart beat becomes more regular than any time he has been here. Why did you not tell me before?"

"Because I was too thick to make the connection. T'Pol worked out, what that scene with Amanda dragging me out of the water meant. His mind is not exactly working on all thrusters right now, but once he'll fully recognize Amanda the impact should be more pronounced."

"Then it is fortunate that Ms. Cole seems to relish this task," Phlox said in a low voice, watching the female gently tending to the Vulcan's hand.

"Help me with the biobed, Phlox?"

"I believe I know what you have in mind," Phlox huffed as he helped the Commander in positioning a second biobed right next to Terval's.

"King size biobed, ma'am," Commander Tucker announced. "The honeymoon suite is all yours."

"You're something else Trip," Amanda said and Phlox watched the short hug of the two humans with a broad smile.

"Jus' tak'n care 'o cousin Terv," the Commander said in what sounded like a deliberately exaggerated form of his native dialect.

Phlox put the privacy screen around the two biobeds, while Commander Tucker took his leave with a silent gesture of his hand.

Just as the human had done when he left, Phlox wore a big smile.

Trip was sitting in his office, wading through the report that T'Len had produced in painstakingly complex detail. According to her investigation the Horizon had been running with too much coolant, but that problem was never detected, because – unbelievably – the old engines had never been taken completely offline for over six years.

Unfortunately the engines had finally given out and the pressure, building up over days, had finally ruptured one of the pipes. What he found even more unsettling were the calculations of how much coolant had escaped. The sheer amount of it would have killed him almost instantly, had Terval not – literally – decided to throw him out.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door chime. It couldn't be one of his engineers as they all knew that this was unnecessary if the unlocked indicator flashed on his door.

"Come," he said and to his surprise it was Captain Savok.

"Commander Tucker, I wish to speak with you."

"Have a seat Captain. What can I do for you?"

"It has come to my knowledge that you have appointed T'Len as the head of our engineering team. While Vulcans consider it illogical to appoint such a junior officer to such a position, I have come to realize that humans often think about options we do not see. I wish to inquire about the reason."

Trip smiled. Of all the Vulcans currently at the station, Savok was probably most interested in how the humans went about things. Okay, there was Terval, too, but his interest was more of a personal nature.

"I thought you'd wonder about that," Trip said. "Bear with me as I tell you a longer story."

The Vulcan raised an interested eyebrow.

"During the Vulcan crisis, after the bombing of the Embassy, we had Ambassador Soval on board. Since the Captain and T'Pol were down on the surface, I was ranking officer. I asked him, how a numbnut like V'Las could have been elected. He said that Vulcan society works based on merit, that V'Las had been appointed, because he had shown a talent for governing."

"Unfortunately his talent for subterfuge went unnoticed," Savok replied dryly.

"That, too," Trip agreed with a smile. "But that's what my decision was based on. She might be young, but T'Len has a talent for leading. That's why I made her the head of your engineering group. While we're at it. I never came round to thank you for appointing them to the station. They're a big help."

"It was the logical thing to do," Savok said. "I am however surprised about your assessment of T'Len. In fact my chief engineer often finds her work less than agreeable."

"Let me guess. He's not fond of her knack for doing things herself without asking beforehand."

"Her predilection for self-appointment is his most common grievance," the Vulcan confirmed.

"See, that's why she's so brilliant," Trip said with a satisfied smile. "Your engineers are all brilliant, but they wouldn't see the work if it pleasured them in the back of a shuttle pod."

Savok raised an eyebrow. "I do not understand."

"Look, your engineers can do just about everything and usually faster than any of my own engineers. But you have to tell them. Once they finished a task, they show up in here asking for a new one."

"Let me give you an example," Trip continued. "Since we're still trying to get this engine back up to specs, injectors running out of sync is more or less a daily occurrence. Two days ago Somon came in here reporting that injector two and four were out of sync. He even reported the percentage to three decimal positions. I ordered him to correct it and he did. Yesterday T'Len came in here, reported that three and four had been out of sync and that she has corrected the problem. See what I mean?"

"You appear to value autonomy," Savok said.

"That's what you need in engineering," Trip said. "It might be okay to only act when ordered in quiet times like now, but if we have an emergency or a battle situation, I need engineers that don't need instructions on everything."

"Would that not be dangerous?" the Vulcan asked. "Someone may misinterpret data or autonomously take on a task too complex for his skills."

"That's a danger that certainly exists," the chief engineer agreed. "But that's what separates a good engineer from a brilliant one. A brilliant engineer knows his limits. T'Len certainly does. Seriously, appointing her as head of the crew is the easiest decision I've made lately. If you weren't an ally, I would have no qualms to poach her and offer her a place on my team."