Dr Riaan

            “I’m keeping him sedated until the swelling around his brain subsides.”

            “Are you sure you aren’t a doctor?” he said to her, still surprised at her instinct and abilities.

            “Been reading a lot the last couple of days, especially since the attack. Commander Sato ran the medical texts through her translator and it’s much faster than trying to read them in English. The staff is quite helpful. I’m sure they could do equally as well as I. Between the three of us we make one doctor.”

            “Have you had a break in the last two days?”

            “We’ve released two crew men back to duty, and whoever could recuperate in their quarters is doing so. The others are just here for observation, not quite ready to send them all away. Commander Jamison said he’d be okay without them for now. I’m worried about Ensign French. He’s been hurt twice in the last week, first his hands, and now he’s fighting from the smoke in his lungs. At least we didn’t have anything that needed major surgery.”

            “Yes, our helmsman,” Archer acknowledged aloud. He looked over at French in bed next to Mitchell. The man was sedated, or asleep. They walked away from Mitchell towards the doors. A moment later Branni bounded towards them from the lab.

            “Admiral Jon, I mean, Jon,” he paused “no one else calls you that; it seems wrong.”

            “I think you’re right. If you’re wearing that uniform, you should call me admiral or sir, okay?”

            “Okay, sir.”

            “What is it?” Archer asked him.

            “Oh, nothing. Hello, sir.”

            “Helping your mother here?”

            “He’s been a big help, Admiral. He makes a great nurse assistant. Branni, stay here and make sure the Ensign and Lieutenant have whatever they need,” Riaan told him. “I’ll bring you back something to eat, okay?” He bounded off back towards the lab station without even a goodbye. With a smile and a frown Jonathan pushed the button to open the doors and they left the bright lights of sick bay for the calming lights of the corridor.

            “Did I even see you yesterday?” Riaan asked. They headed for the mess for something to eat since it was already mid-day.

            “I think that depends on what you call a day. I’ve been patching up circuits and monitors on the bridge, welded an EPS conduit in Engineering with Jamison, talking to Starfleet. We’re still several days from Andoria unless we get our warp engines up to speed.”

            “I don’t think Branni and I have left sick bay except to eat. We both slept there last night. But I think the worst is over. Burns, contusions, lacerations, but surprisingly nothing worse than that.”

            “Captain Mitchell?”

            “The concussion is his worst problem. He also had a few burns and cuts. Those are healing fine. I wish I could tell you when he will be ready for duty, but brains are funny things. They do whatever they want no matter what the medical text says.”

            “Like the human heart,” Jon said quietly. They came to the mess hall.

            “The heart?”

“Just an expression. Humans, over the centuries, came to feel the spirit is in the heart, not the brain.” They wandered from the doors to the captain’s private dining area. “The heart wants what the heart wants, and there’s not much you can do about it.”

            “I admit it’s funny to me, humans having it on their left side of the body instead of central as in an Akalli, but it’s otherwise they’re the same. It doesn’t want like a brain does.”

            Jonathan looked at Riaan curiously. How did she understand the workings of anatomy so clearly after a few weeks’ training? How did she pick up another language so quickly, and learn such a commanding subject while raising her son and living a completely different life than she had been just a moon ago? It was a shame that she had not been educated further when she was so intelligent. They entered the captain’s mess and sat down.

            “What’s on the menu today?” Archer asked the steward, but before he could answer “Whatever it is, bring two.”

            “Yes, sir.”

            “At least the crew has stopped leaping up every time I enter the room.” The steward brought glasses, a pitcher of iced tea, and a tray of fresh fruit immediately.

            “The view from here is amazing,” Riaan commented, “but so empty at the same time.”

            “When we reach Andoria, you may want to stay on board. The planet is very cold, cold everywhere, all the time.”

            “I’d love to see it. I’ve never been to another planet before…of course, what am I saying?” Archer chuckled.

            “Your English is becoming pretty good. Using the translator much?”

            “For more technical medical things, yes, but it hasn’t been too difficult to learn.”

            “I spent a couple weeks learning Wolg on the way to Akal, but once I got inside the reactor I had a whole new set of words to learn. I know what you mean about technical words compared to everyday words.”

            The steward brought two plates to the guests now in charge of Endeavour. Rich brown soup with bread floating on top and onions spilling over paired with a chopped apple covered in mayonnaise and mixed with raisins and nuts. More rolls, butter, cubes of yellow cheese, and a refill on the iced tea came along also.

            “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until just now,” Riaan declared, taking Jon’s lead and picking up a roll and soaking it briefly in the brown broth from the bowl. “The food here is very good, on the ship that is.”

            “Starfleet commands quality chefs. Cooking for 100 people three times a day with food preserved by freezing or canning or dehydrating can’t be easy. And on top of that, we have protein re-sequencers to maximize what’s on board.”

            “I’m not sure I want to know what that means,” Riaan smiled as if she might laugh. Jon melted inside when she smiled. He felt as if his heart had grown, filling his whole chest. “What is it?” she asked.

            “Nothing.”

            “Are you sure? You look like you have a fever,” and she reached over to touch his cheek. “You are a little warm, Jon. Are you getting sick?”

            “I’m fine, really.” He attended to his ice tea and thought about the feeling racing up and down his body. Like a small bolt of lightning, his mind drifted, thinking of how he could know her better, deeper. Her blue scrubs camouflaged a playground for his hands, his eyes, his lips. He drifted a moment in her hoodoo; he looked away and picked up the cold tea.

            “So what now? We are on our way to a new planet, the injuries are being treated, the engines are under repair.”

            “Yes, so now I prepare for a negotiation between Andorians and Vulcans. Must find something they have in common and go from there. Border dispute.” He spoke absentmindedly, looking at Riaan, wishing the table was not covered in plates and food that separated them. “In the meantime, it’s just a matter of recreation and ship repairs, maintenance – movies, games, reading. The crew will take us where we need to go at the best speed they can.”