Chapter Six

Trauma

In her quarters, Tia watched as the man on the floor vanished as though he had never been, his blade vanishing with him. She thought about this for a moment, deciding that he had been stopped somewhere up his personal time line, even though she had been down his. She hoped it was in time to prevent any injuries. Also, being up the time line from the initial assault, she and Hoshi would retain memory of him; but no one down the line beyond where he had been stopped would.

But what was she to do about this? How could she reconcile what Hoshi had seen with her call for help and her good condition? She looked herself over, particularly her hands. How to explain the blood on her hands? There was only one thing she could think of, and she had to do it before Hoshi revived.

Grabbing the front of her blue dress at the point just above her breasts, she pulled it apart with a loud tear, ripping it down past her hips, though not all the way open. She pulled it off her left shoulder and down her arm, letting it hang with only the last five inches of her hem keeping it together. She wore no bra, and just a pair of blue bikini panties. Taking hold of them at her left hip, she pulled sharply and they split with a snap, held now only about her right leg. This was a good start, but she had to admit it would not fool a child.

Using her left hand, she reluctantly pressed her long, sharp nails between her full, firm breasts and raked them hard across her left breast, wincing at the pain. Almost immediately four rivets of golden blood started to seep from the deep furrows created. She let them flow unchecked down her svelte body, grimacing at the biting pain. Enough? No.

Balling her fist, she prepared herself reluctantly, and struck herself hard in her right eye. This too hurt, but not as much as when she hit herself again, this time squarely in her nose. Almost immediately golden blood started flowing down her face, over her mouth to drip onto her chest. Was this enough? She was afraid not, not for the act she was going to have to give if she was going to be believed by the woman. 'Oh, Aura,' she thought, 'kil luas ti quilwaz sei.' (this going to hurt is)

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she reached down to a far more sensitive spot, and clamped her hand over her mouth to silence herself. She yanked sharply forward, and wanted desperately to scream at the searing pain. She stood for several long seconds, gasping heavily even while keeping her hand clamped tightly over her mouth; lest the scream she was holding back escape. She didn't want to look, but could feel the blood start to trickle down her legs. At her right it started to seep into the fragment of her panties, but flowed unchecked down her left leg.

This was going to be enough; she had absolutely no intention of doing anything more. If this didn't convince Hoshi that she had been assaulted up to the moment the intruder had succumbed to a kick in the testicles long enough for her to call the bridge, then nothing would!

She dropped to her knees beside Hoshi, kneeling for a moment, not stopping or smearing any of the golden blood that flowed from too many wounds down her body. "Hoshi?" She shook her friend. "Hoshi, wake up. Please. Please wake up!" She pleaded desperately to her friend, becoming more urgent as the woman started to revive. "Qualsia! Hoshi! Qualsia mila lu!"

When Hoshi opened her eyes, at least as best she could considering her left eye was almost swollen shut and her face felt like hell from being punched five times, Tia burst into tears, kneeling and sobbing next to her.

Hoshi looked up at her young friend, shocked into full wakefulness by the sight of her. Tia's dress was torn apart, her own right eye bruised and swelling, face covered in golden blood, breast cut and bleeding heavily. She looked down, seeing her friend's panties had been torn away but were covered in golden blood that streamed down her bare legs to the floor and drew the only possible conclusion. "Tia? Oh, my God!"

Tia fell upon her, clinging to her and sobbing upon her chest, wailing in misery as Hoshi held her gently, trying to comfort the inconsolable girl.

xxx

It took a long time for Hoshi, holding the broken girl, to get the story of what had happened after she passed out, more so because Tia had not been able to find the words in English, falling back to Auran to sob out her story.

While she listened, trying to console the girl, she had called the Bridge, calling for medical aid. It was a few minutes later that she met Captain Archer, Phlox and Trip in the corridor outside Tia's quarters. Her face hurt even though much of the feeling was lost, and she did not want to see herself in a mirror. She also knew her uniform was heavily smeared with golden blood. She just wanted to tell the Captain what little she had learned, as much as she could with her injured mouth slurring half her words, so she could get to the Sick Bay and have Phlox treat her.

"He was a temporal cold warrior." She told them as clearly, as carefully, as she could. "His assignment was to kill all the women on the ship."

"Why?" Archer tried not to demand this of his friend, wishing she had taken his instruction to tell them this in the Sick Bay, but she had insisted on standing here outside Tia's quarters.

"Tia says it's something about Caldis III. Something about that planet, our mission there will fail because all the women are dead."

"We're due to reach Caldis III in two days, but there is no mission. It's a survey only, looking for materials to make deuterium."

"Up until now."

He nodded in agreement. "Now go with Phlox. He'll take care of you."

"What about Tia?" Trip insisted. He had been as patient as he could be, having to restrain his outrage when he had seen her blood on Hoshi's uniform, but now he wanted answers of his own. Hoshi shook her head.

"She won't come. She won't see Phlox. I don't know why, but she'll only see you." He started to move past her but she put her hand on his chest, stopping him. "Commander, you've never dealt with an assault survivor?" She forced herself to make it a question.

"What do you mean 'assault'?"

"You know what I mean; don't make me spell it out." She could see in the sudden rage that flared in his eyes that he understood, but she pressed harder into his chest, blocking him more firmly. "If you go charging in there, you'll just make it worse. You need to stay calm. She's hurting, traumatized, and she's lost her English."

"What do you mean, 'lost her English'?"

"I said she's traumatized. She thinks in Auran and cannot look for the words to tell what happened to her. You know how she feels about the UT – she's even more adamant about it now. She won't let me use it. She should go to Medical but won't. She won't see anyone but you. Near as I can get, she's been dishonored and needs to reestablish her bond with you – provided you'll have her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He flared up.

"Her words, not mine. Just go in there, calmly, and follow her lead."

"But I don't know a lot of Auran."

Archer shook his head. "That doesn't matter, does it Trip?"

"No. No, it doesn't." Hoshi dropped her hand, and Trip went past them, the door sighing open and then closed behind him.

"This way, Ensign." Phlox directed, glad to be able to do some good for someone. Hoshi looked at Archer, her report not finished.

"Get to the Sick Bay." She nodded gratefully. "And Hoshi?"

"Sir?"

"Well done."

xx

As the door shushed closed behind him Charles Tucker looked across the room at the girl who sat on her bunk. Taking in the sight of her ruined dress and the blood she would not clean off herself, he tried very hard to repress an incendiary fury. Just an hour ago they had been together on that stage, and now… "Tia?" She looked up at him, a desperate expression etched on her lovely features.

"Shar-les!" She got off the bunk and took half a step before collapsing heavily to the floor with a loud thump. He was by her in a second, trying to gather her up in his arms as she started speaking urgently, desperately, but couldn't find the English words. She clung to him, her Auran words completely incomprehensible as she poured out her soul to him and he couldn't understand a word of it.

But Jonathan and Hoshi had been right. He did not have to understand. He only had to hold her and listen.

xx

When Archer, Phlox and Hoshi arrived at the Sick Bay Dina Samuels, who had remained behind with Malcolm Reed and Phlox, was just stepping away from the diagnostic table on which the prisoner lay. Reed looked up as they entered. "He's dead, sir." He reported, disgusted. "Some fast acting poison; there was nothing we could do."

"A powerful neuro-toxin was released simultaneously from several points in his body." Phlox, having checked the readings, confirmed.

"Can't say I'm surprised. In fact, I'd have been even more surprised if we could have gotten something out of him."

"Sorry, sir. He caught us both by surprise." Reed said.

"Not your fault. We know that he is a temporal agent. He must have traveled up and down the time-line to kill several people almost simultaneously."

"Miss Anlor gave us a brief list, but I had Security make a sweep just in case. All accounted for and secure."

"Everyone reported in?"

Reed frowned, belatedly realizing that not everybody had. Stepping up to the communicator panel on the wall, he activated it. "Reed to Cein." There was no response, and a moment later Reed repeated his hail, getting ready to increase the Security alert when he finally got an answer.

"Cein here."

"Is everything all right? You were sent to look in on Elizabeth Cutler." They could hear a brief rustling in the background.

"Yes, sir. I have everything in hand." A faint, muffled but very definite background giggle came through the speaker. "Shhhhh!"

"Sorry!" The whisper came even more faintly.

Reed and Archer exchanged looks. Reed was outraged, but was equally surprised to see that, while Archer's lips were pressed tightly together it was not from anger or anything even remotely resembling it.

Annoyed but trying to keep from showing it, Reed turned back to the speaker. "As you were." He cut the connection in the middle of another definite background giggle. When he looked at the Captain, the man clearly was having a hard time keeping a serious expression of his own. Feeling he had to say something, Reed pointed out; "He is on duty, sir."

Archer just turned away to hide a smile that threatened to break through despite his efforts, shaking his head, waving his hand at his friend to dismiss the thought, not trusting himself to speak.

Continues in "House of Cards."