And all hell breaks loose...Sickbay

Posted on Wed Sep 27, 2017 @ 10:19pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

4,413 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Silence
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Concurrent with post "And all hell breaks loose...Fire fight"

USS Victory

Once the shuttle had been turned over to the flight deck crew, the Captain remained briefly to issue orders ensuring that the artifacts which had been brought back to the ship from the planet below would be safely transported to the science lab for further analysis, while Doctor Anderson saw that the remains of the guard they'd brought with them had been taken to her personal lab for analysis. The Captain was very curious, to put it mildly, to learn more about what the exact composition of the unusual stone figure was, and whether or not it was indeed carved from marble taken from Earth as the preliminary scans taken by tricorder had indicated.

If so..

The implications were mind-blowing! That meant that the ancient myths of the Annunaki gods were not myths at all, but accounts passed down over the millennia of a visitation to Earth during mankind's first developmental stages into civilization. Then there was the supposition that the Annunaki had in fact helped create those first civilizations.

It was going to take some time to decrypt the data copied from the device. Rhea was just as eager to dig into that aspect of what they had found as she was the physical artifacts!

The scientist part of her was nearly overcome with the desire to follow the carefully crated artifacts to the lab and get to work personally. Having to allow the science department to do their jobs was almost more than she could stand. She'd never been one to sit back and let others work and now? Now it was killing her to have to sit back and let her science staff do their jobs when that long ago curiosity which had prompted her to join Starfleet had been re-fired with a passion by the discoveries made in the ruined city...temple...vault...whatever its original function had been.

With her thoughts on the discovery below, wondering if more evidence awaited them below, the Captain wasn't paying attention as she walked from the shuttlebay. Entering the 'lift, she said, "Deck 3."

She wanted to check on the Doctor and verify that her Chief Medical Officer would recover fully from her own encounter with the unusually large life forms below before going to her quarters to clean up and write a report back to Starfleet Command regarding their discoveries in the ancient ruins on the moon below.

Exiting from the turbolift, her mind still on the myriad of possibilities that she wanted to follow up on rather than go write yet another blasted report to Starfleet, she noted that there were three other members of the ship's crew ahead, a work team from engineering being led by a Vulcan officer who had recently come aboard--Ensign Sorak, she thought his name was. An access panel was opened up; at a glance as she passed with a nod and quick greeting she thought they were calibrating one of the environmental system units maybe.

If it was important, she was certain there'd be a long, mind-numbing and detailed down to the very smallest of minutia report on it sitting on her desk by morning from Torres or Raylen anyway. She'd have Alec review it perhaps, if there was anything major there she knew he'd let her know.

Up ahead, the doors to security and the brig opened, and she noted that two security officers were bringing Summers out. That gave her pause; what the hell was going on here?

Before the Captain could pose that very question to the two security officers, however, she sensed sudden motion behind her. Half turning, she reacted without thinking, ducking sharply to the left so that the spanner swung toward her skull by Ensign Sorak slammed into her shoulder instead. The other two officers with Sorak ran up and attacked as well. Kennit moved back, seeking room to fight while evading another savage swing of the spanner toward her head!

There wasn't time to be alarmed, not even time to call out for help. Years of training and a career spent in active duty with Section 31 had her push the attack. Lunging at her assailant, the Captain lashed out with full strength, hitting Sorak so hard the tall Vulcan's--no, not Vulcan, she realized, Romulan--head snapped to the side, green blood sending a fine mist spraying against the bulkhead. Motion to her left made Kennit turn and block a punch from one of the crewman who had been working with Sorak. She drove her elbow into the crewman's throat, gratified when he collapsed with his windpipe crushed. That feeling of success didn't last long as Sorak and the remaining crewman rushed her together. Sorak landed a blow to her left cheek, and she staggered but stayed up and lashed out at the Romulan with a swift kick to his knee. Before she could turn, something hit her in the lower left side of her chest, a hard blow that made her gasp at the sensation of intense, burning pain which spread through her. Rhea could hear the security officers who had been escorting Summers shouting, but their voices were overrun by the ringing in her ears.

Summers had been confused when her cell door had been opened and she had been dragged out into the corridor. She shook her head, trying to clear it, just in time to see a Vulcan Ensign and two others tear into the Captain. Shaking her head, Summers felt her blood boil, and while her guards/captors were distracted by the scuffle, she wrested her arms free, put her two fists together and rammed them into the Vulcan's stomach, causing him to go to his knees. Summers then brought both hands down on his neck, causing him to crumble to the floor. She quickly turned to the other crewman and jabbed a thumb into his throat, before bringing both arms down on his neck. As the security guards came up to grab her, she stood down, offering them her arms. Seeing all three of the assailants on the floor, Summers looked at the Captain, who was leaning against the corridor wall. Slightly smiling, Summers addressed her. "Captain, looks like I came to your rescue this time. I *think* we've found our other Romulan, or Romulans, depending on what the Doc can make of his cohorts."

The Captain didn't answer, though her dark eyes flicked toward where Summers stood, still cuffed, but at the moment guarded by only one security officer as the other was busy with the Captain's trio of assailants. Instead, still leaning against the corridor wall she slid her right hand to her left side, jaw clenching as she pulled a long, thin double edged blade from where it had been embedded in her torso. Hand stained with blood she let the knife drop and pressed her hand fully against the wound, sliding down with her back to the wall, aware she was hurt and hurt badly, blood pulsing freely from the deep stab wound.

Summers let out a, "damn!" and then pulled away from the guards again, dropped to her knees and pressed her hands against the Captain's wound as well. Quickly turning to the Security guards, Summers yelled, "let's get the Captain to Sick Bay! Now!" The guards gently ( as much as they could, that is,) picked up the Captain and held her by her shoulders and legs, while Summers applied pressure to the wound and raced toward Sick Bay.

The group didn't get far. The first spasm of pain from being lifted that way had the Captain gasping, but anger kicked in fast and the Captain's body arched suddenly, twisting with considerable strength as she fought back and jerked her upper body free while at the same time administering a well placed and resoundingly strong kick which landed square in Summers' backside.

The drawback of the adrenaline-charged surge of energy was being dropped unceremoniously to the deck, which promptly knocked the breath from her lungs and tore her wound further, leaving her curled on one side, gasping for air as she tried to get up. Annoyed by the alert klaxon she heard ringing between her ears, she snarled, "Shut off that fucking noise!"

Summers gasped as she hit the deck and had the air knocked out of her from the tremendous kick the Captain had given her, and glared at the Captain. "You...id--I..and these guys are *trying* to get you to Sickbay!" Summers yelled, and tried to turn the Captain's attention to the security guards standing by to help.

Bleeding heavily, Kennit pulled herself to a semi-seated position. "Trying to kill me..." she hissed out past gritted teeth as she picked up the knife she'd just pulled from her own flesh and turned a murderous gaze on the Romulan. She marshaled her strength and got to her feet. "Now...it's my turn."

Summers looked at the security guards that were watching what was happening. "Will you *please* tell her I...and you...are trying to help her?" Summers then turned back to the Captain. "Captain...please...think..."

The Captain's eyes were an odd mix of shimmering silver and black rage, but she wasn't actually looking directly at Summers but instead, directly behind her where the other Romulan, Sorak, hiding in plain sight as a Vulcan, was standing once more, until that moment unnoticed by the security team whose attention had been focused on their injured and bleeding Captain.

In the Romulan assassin's hand was an odd weapon, pointing straight at his quarry. At the same moment as his finger pressed the firing mechanism, the Captain flipped the blade in her hand and then threw it with incredible force. An instant later, there were two sharp, loud sounds accompanied by a flash of light. Then, complete shocked silence.

The slender blade jutted from the assassin's left eye socket, the leather wrapped hilt still vibrating slightly for an instant before the Romulan collapsed, lifeless, to the deck.

The Captain stood motionless as well for a moment, eyes wide. A spreading dark stain appeared on her chest, where two small, dark holes in her uniform were marked by scorched cloth. Kennit sank down slowly to the deck, her breath rasping harsh and pained with each labored inhalation.

Summers had watched the whole thing as if it were in slow motion. She looked at the Captain, then turned back to the would-be assassin. Summers went over to the dead body. "You!" She kicked him. "You have made me sick that I am an Romulan!" She kicked him again. "I want nothing to do with you, or your kind!" She kicked his dead body one last time, then turned back to the Captain. "Captain, we should really get you to Sickbay."

Shot twice in the chest, the Captain didn't respond, but rather slumped back to the deck with her legs curled half under her where she'd fallen, as more security officers arrived on scene and took control of the situation and took the surviving would be mutineer/assassin into custody.

Close behind them, Doctor Anderson came charging in, followed by two medical personnel and an antigrav gurney.

The nurses shoved Summers out of the way as Nicole immediately assessed the Captain. She snapped her fingers and barked orders quickly as they lifted the Captain carefully and immediately raced down the corridor toward sickbay.

---

Sickbay

With the hour fairly late in the ship, it had been relatively quiet in Sickbay. The watch had just changed, with the evening staff going about their first checks and routines as normal without any unexpected issues or complications rising to cause undue problems for the evenings assigned duty staff.

Then the doors to sickbay parted, and all hell broke loose.

"Epsilon, prep the surgical bay! I want tricorders ready, all equipment fired up and instruments laid out stat! Tell MacKenzie I need her scrubbed and suited in five minutes!" Nicole shouted, her head turning in every direction as she tried to mobilize her people.

Startled by the sudden frenzy of the new arrivals and the sight of the Captain bloodied on a gurney, for a brief instant one of the medical officers on duty, Lt. JG Derek Shepard just gaped in shock.

Nicole grabbed him, by the arm, depositing a bloody handprint on his sleeve. "Get out and get Delta Team back here now!" she said, throwing him out of Sickbay as the nurses pushed the Captain into the surgical bay.

"Oxygen levels are down, BP dropping," a nurse said as the doors closed.

Seemingly unnoticed by all, Summers entered Sick Bay and slumped down against a wall.

Before Nicole could let out a snarl at the spy on her floor, the entire ship shuddered violently, accompanied by the unmistakable rumble of an explosion. *That wasn't an internal blowout,* Nicole thought, worried, *that came from a hit through the ship's hull!* New alerts sounded and a medtech rushed into the room. "Deck 11 reports a hull breach. Wounded and fatalities!"

"Tell MacKenzie to report to Deck 11 and get teams Gamma and Delta---oh bloody hell, get everyone on duty. Alpha and Beta teams report to Cargo Bay 2 and establish a triage ward, Gamma and Delta teams with MacKenzie to Deck 11, and everyone else here. Set up runners in case communications go out."

Nicole pulled off her uniform jacket and ran to the surgical bay, her boots leaving prints as she raced along the trail of blood soaking into the carpet.

Surgical Bay

Nicole was sure she'd set a new speed record in the prep room, stripping off her uniform, scrubbing and wriggling into a sterile surgical gown in under three minutes. She walked into the surgical bay where two nurses were similarly dressed and cutting off the Captain's uniform.

"Sterile field established," Nurse Harper said.

"Get that uniform off and get the wounds cleaned quickly, Faith," Nicole said.

"BP still dropping. Whole blood administered, two units," Nurse Cannivali said.

"Get two more units ready, Joseph," Nicole said. "She's losing it as fast as we're giving it."

"Yes, Doctor," he said.

"All right," Nicole said, examining the wounds in the Captain's chest, "a projectile pistol. Haven't seen a wound like that in a while." She frowned, looking at the wounds. "Faith, is the knife wound anything special?"

"It missed her vital organs, but it tore a lot of muscle. It looks to be causing most of the blood loss," Harper said.

"Get it sealed fast then and we'll start in on her chest," Nicole said, snapping her fingers for an instrument cart.

Another explosion shook the deck, this one from somewhere inside the Victory, and the lights flickered for just an instant before stabilizing.

Sickbay

"Anderson to Henderson, establish secondary power sources and get security to secure Sickbay. Out."

Jennifer Henderson was only a medtech, but she was a head taller than Nicole, and almost as ornery. She wasn't in charge of the Gamma Shift, but she could bark orders to her fellow techs as if she was. Within moments she had security called, power cells connected and Sickbay back in order.

"Sit here. Do not move," she said to Summers, putting the woman in a chair and watching her until Security arrived.

Summers nodded. "Works for me, just save the Captain." She replied.

Surgical Bay

Nicole growled as she dug into the Captain's wounds, trying to find the small projectiles. It had been some time since she'd pulled a real bullet from anyone, and she didn't enjoy it. It was unnecessary, extra work and cause almost as much damage as the original invader.

"More blood, and increase the sedative," she said. "This is going to take some time."

Ensign Cannivali, his voice calm, said, "yes, Doctor," while at the same time deftly entering the necessary code authorization to increase the level of sedative being administered to the Captain. He then quickly replaced the blood transfusion unit being administered with a fresh supply, trying to replace what the Captain continued to loose at an alarming rate. The Borg nanites in her body were acting to try and counter the sedative, while at the same time attempting to repair damage to the technology fused into her body.

"Is the laceration sealed?" Nicole huffed after she got the chest wounds cleaned. The captain was still bleeding, but bleeding meant alive, and that meant she had time.

"90 percent," Nurse Harper said. "Deepest section is stitched, going to switch to a dermasealer shortly."

"Don't make it pretty, we'll remove the scar later," Nicole said, cutting at the holes in the Captain's chest. Unfortunately, due to the captain's physiology, she had to make the incisions twice as big to allow herself time to see before the nanites began to heal the flesh. "Bloody idiots," she growled.

"Doctor?" Nurse Cannivali said.

"Nothing, just bothered by whatever idiots thought this was a good idea," she said. "Focus on her readings. If she even comes close to waking up, put enough sedative in her to bring down a resk-lah."

"A...what, Ma'am?" he said.

"Something big," Nicole said.

"Yes, Doctor," he said, watching the Captain's alpha waves carefully.

The doors opened and another sterile suit rushed in, making Nicole glance up. "Good evening, Ensign Cromwell, so nice of you to join us."

Maggie stepped up to Nicole's side and gave an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Doctor, I was delayed."

Nicole's nostrils flared as she caught Maggie's scent. "My apologies to Ensign Faraday," she said, under her breath.

Maggie blushed, but began suction of the blood coming out of the captain's chest wounds. Nicole's now freed hand began to probe the wounds, keeping them open while her other hand attempted to extract the projectiles embedded in the Captain's torso. It was slow work, and it was a full ten minutes before she was able to safely extract them. Both had been designed to fragment and the only thing that had saved the Captain was the denseness of some of the Borg tech within her, containing the fragments and the nanites slowly dissolving them.

As the last fragment clanked into the drop pan, Nicole sighed. "Let's close her up," she said, as her stomach suddenly dropped. "Damnit they need to hold the ship steady," she growled.

"There were reports of firefights all over the ship," Maggie said, handing Nicole a laser suture. "I swore I heard weapons fire around the corner when I ran into Sickbay."

"Well if they come in here, they'll regret it," Nicole said, bending over the Captain to close her up. "I'm in no mood."

Elsewhere in Sickbay

Injured personnel, mostly injuries related to the violent bucking of the ship's structure from the battle against the alien ship were also coming in. Casualties brought in from the defensive fight against the boarding party were laid out upon the deck for now as those personnel were already gone, the focus had to be on those still breathing.

Doctor Mackenzie was covering triage as best she could, although it wasn't quite like the simulations at the academy. Still, it was going rather smoothly and she was happy with the results, as best she could be. They need to start clearing room, however.

"Fairway and Kelson, take the covered to the 'back room'," Mackenzie said, crossing quickly to the next biobed. They'd prioritized the patients just as another batch came in. Every bed was filled, every chair occupied, there were even people sitting in Doctor Anderson's office.

Almost the entire staff was there and the rooms could not have been more crowded. They were going to open up a triage ward, but Sickbay had to be sealed off when people reported hostiles in the corridor. Now they were under siege and doing their best to make the best of it. Mackenzie stepped up to the last biobed, prepping for some meatball surgery. It wasn't what they taught at Harvard, but it was all they had time for.

She saw the same tall crewman sitting in a chair nearby and nodded at her. "What's your injury?"

Summers tried to stand up. " It's been a while; I can't remember. I *think* I just got knocked around a bit by Security and Romulans while trying to save the Captain. Can you give am an ' once over ' to be sure? "

Tag MacKenzie



Surgical Bay

"Sealer," Nicole said, holding out her hand. Maggie slapped the instrument into her palm, and Nicole quickly applied it to the last wound. "All right, she's sealed up. Let's get cleaned up and we can--" she stopped as the deck shook hard, a rumbling moving through it that was very different from the explosions of a firefight.

"Sanders to Anderson; the intruders are in the morgue and are going for the alien skeleton," Cass' voice said over the comm.

"Clean and finish and keep her under," Nicole said as she turned and tore out of the surgical bay at full speed. She flew down the hallway, practically leaping over a nurse heading to Sickbay and came around the corner towards the morgue.

She didn't have to look hard to realize she was too late. The doors had been blown off and the room was empty. The only thing left was a small pile of black powder in the drawer where the alien had been. She walked up to it, looking it over carefully. Finally, she went to a storage bin, pulled out a sample vial and collected all the powder. She sealed the vial and put it in the drawer, closing the container back into stasis and ran out of the ruined room back to Sickbay to help tend the wounded.


Sickbay

Nicole had shucked her surgical gown in the morgue and came skidding around the corner of the hallway and rushed into Sickbay at a fast clip. She walked up to a biobed as security brought another crewman in, laying him down on a biobed. "Head wound," one of them said. "We think he was fighting the intruders."

"Thank you," Nicole said, elbowing in front of them and looking him over. "Mister Tanaka," she said to the unconscious man, "welcome back to Sickbay."

As Maggie finally caught up with her, the nurse scanned him quickly with a tricorder. "Concussion, fractured skull, broken nose, several torn ligaments in his neck and shoulders."

"He had his ears boxed and was knocked out," Nicole summarized. "All right get him ready for surgery, we'll head back in there shortly." Nicole looked down the hallway. "Faith!" she shouted, "get the bay patient into ICU and prep the bay again!"

"Hunter to Sickbay, "Doctor what's your status?"

"Over two dozen wounded and they're the lucky ones," Nicole said. "We're hearing rumors the alien weapons incinerate on contact. I believe they broke into the morgue and destroyed the mummy we brought back as well. The Captain was attacked in a different manner: knife and bullet wounds. And yes, you heard me right, bullets; actual projectiles. I'm not sure of the details but our neighborhood Romulan Spy is in my Sickbay trying to look contrite. I'll shoot her after I finish with the rest of the surgeries."

Suddenly her stomach dropped as the ship began to pull a tight turn. "And tell Penny to only show off if it's absolutely necessary. I have Mister Tanaka going in for surgery to his cranium and I think he'd like to at least retain his power of speech. Anderson out."

She closed the channel and snapped her fingers at two orderlies who loaded Tanaka onto a gurney for the surgical bay. She looked over at McKenzie, who nodded that she had it handled, and went to don a fresh surgical gown.

As she struggled into it, the comm opened again. "Don't shoot Summers yet. She may be of some service to us," Hunter's voice said.

*Yes, I can study the cadaver,* Nicole thought.

"What is the prognosis for those injured and the Captain?" he said.

"Ask me when we aren't being fired at," Nicole said. "If we come out of this in once piece, she'll recover. Anderson out!"

She pulled the hood over her head, tucking her hair in and ran into the surgical bay, annoyed to find that Tanaka wasn't on the table yet. "What's going on?"

"The Captain's readings," Maggie said. "She's about to hit the red zone across the board."

Nicole's brow furrowed. They'd sewn every hole, stitched every muscle, and replaced the blood loss. There was no reason she should be unable to repair herself.

Unless...

"Implants," Nicole said. "Her Borg parts are shutting down. There was too much damage from lack of nanites to maintain her implants."

"So we need more nanites?" Maggie said, gulping at the prospect.

"No, it's like priming a siphon. If you lose the air seal you have to reprime it."

"I...don't follow."

"Cortical stimulator, "Nicole said, holding her hand out. As the small electrical device was slapped into her palm, she reached over and placed them over the Captain's forehead. "She needs a jumpstart," Nicole said, programming the surgical bed. "Priming....clear!"

The Captain's back arched as the impulses coursed through her, overloading her nervous system temporarily with a charge that her body didn't need, but her implants did. Nicole watched the readings as her levels fluctuated, but began to fall again.

"Repeating...charging...clear!" she fired again, and again the Captain bucked. Nicole held her breath a moment and ran her tricorder over the captain, scanning the implants instead of the flesh. After a moment, her tricorder beeped reassuringly, and as she turned to look, the Captain's levels began to normalize. "Computer," she said, "activate the EMH."

"How may I be of service, Doctor?" the EMH said as he shimmered into existence.

Nicole was secretly happy she'd had his greeting updated but at the moment didn't have time for pleasantries. "Get the Captain to the ICU. Keep watch on her vitals and if anything changes more than 5 percent, call me immediately. If she starts to come to, increase her sedative and keep restraints on her at all times."

"Understood," the EMH said, helping to load the Captain onto the gurney as the nurses put Tanaka onto the surgical table.

"All right," Nicole said, "everyone focus; we're going to be fusing a skull."


~*~

 

RSS Feed