Showdown

Posted on Sat Oct 1, 2016 @ 2:24pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

2,175 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Fall
Location: CMO's Office

Nicole walked into her office and dropped her black bag on her desk casually as she came around and dropped into her chair, not realizing till that moment how much she had really wanted to sit down.

Hunter marched in behind her, nostrils flaring and came right up to her desk, knuckles whitening as he leaned over it to glare at her. "You shot me."

"I know," Nicole said, trying, almost successfully, to keep the ends of her lips from twitching upwards.

"You. Shot. Me," he said, emphasizing each word.

"Saying it slower doesn't make it less amusing," she said.

"YOU SHOT ME!" he thundered, slamming his fist onto the table.

"You're welcome," Nicole said, her voice slightly less amused. "It was a necessary action that I almost deeply regret."

Hunter didn't appear to appreciate her attempt at levity and stood up to his full height. "We have had our disagreements, but this is unacceptable. I could have your commission for this," he said.

"You walked into a very tense situation," Nicole said, her voice as steady as she could manage. "You were emotionally jarred, and understandably so. I didn't want to risk the Captain's concentration being distracted. The lives of everyone in that room depended on our keeping control. I couldn't risk you distracting either of us, or putting yourself into the situation and upsetting the balance."

"That is a load of bull!" Hunter snapped back. "Shooting another officer, one in a position of authority over you in fact is inexcusable! You are out control Doctor! You assaulted other members of this ships crew and nearly caused the death of the Captain!"

"Wrong," Nicole said, her eyes blazing. "The Borg nearly killed the Captain. Furthermore, Section 31 nearly killed the Captain. I just busted my ass through over five hours of surgery to make sure they didn't succeed. I am sorry for what I had to do, but I was not going to risk this ship or this crew over a mouthy security officer and an emotionally compromised First Officer. I made a decision towards the safety of my patients and the crew, and I would do it again gladly. You were inconvenienced, and that is all, as was Ms. Summers. I'm not asking to be excused from this, Commander. I did what I did because I felt it was the most efficient way to avoid complications. Put me in the brig if you have to, but the Captain is alive, as are all of us, because of what happened."

Being described as an emotionally compromised First Officer did little to improve Hunter's current state of ire. The fact that the Doctor was right and he knew it...didn't much help either!

Fuming, furious that the Doctor had stunned him, worried because Rhea had not awakened. He glowered back at the Doctor and said, "Your actions caused more distraction putting the lives of the rescued personnel as well as our own crew at far more risk than my being "jarred" but what I saw when I entered sickbay!"

Nicole's eyes had dark circles and her arms were shaking, but she mustered the energy to stand up and match him, glower for glower. "I wholeheartedly disagree. You don't realize what a distraction you are to her; you were the only thing she reacted to in there. You beamed a group of borg drones and their queen into my Sickbay. I would anesthetize the whole damn ship if it meant saving everyone's life. Do not complain to me now because you were at the receiving end of my snap decision. If you're upset, talk to Cass. If you're concerned about the Captain, talk to me about that. And for the record? She's doing just lovely, if I may say with a bit of professional pride."

She dropped back into her chair, exhausted, and pressed her palm against a drawer, unlocking it and pulling out a bottle filled with a dark, red liquid. She reached into her top and pulled out her flask and popped it open with ease, pouring enough liquid till the flask was full, then took several long swallows from the flask before topping it off again. She returned her flask to her jacket and the bottle to her drawer, and looked back at Hunter with a slightly more alert expression.

"All right," she finally said. "We'll make this fair." She opened her black bag. "Stunner," she said, and reached in, pulling out another hand stunner like she'd used on him. She adjusted the settings and closed her bag up, then handed him the gun. "Shoot me," she said. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll take a hit."

Throwing the stunner down to her desk, Hunter snapped "Oh grow up!"

Before either of them could say more, from the doorway came a tired, yet decidedly annoyed voice said "Will the two of you please shut up." Standing in the doorway, leaning heavily against it in fact in order to remain upright was the Captain. Pale, barefoot, and looking like she'd been run over by a Ferengi cargo shuttle.

Nicole held her hand out as if to present the scene. "Awake," she said. She put the stunner back in her bag and pulled out her tricorder, coming around her desk quickly. "And you should not be standing," she said sternly. "You could ruin all my hard work."

She came up and put her arm around the Captain to steer her back to a biobed. "Could use some help here!" she shouted to the room, two nurses rushing over to to help the captain back to a biobed.

A single look from the Captain stopped both nurses in their tracks, her eyes still so very dark - even as weak as she was she could still burn straight through to the soul of those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of that dark, malevolent gaze. "What about the others who came back. Taggart?" she asked, though her voice betrayed the threat in her gaze and revealed clearly just how weakened she was.

Hunter didn't hesitate, and he wasn't put off by the glare in her eyes as he moved in and without hesitation proceeded to scoop Rhea up into his arms, cradling her securely as he carried her back towards the biobed where she'd been resting, completely ignoring her. "Alec... no, Alec, don't. Put me down Commander that's an order!"

"We could shoot her instead," Nicole grumbled, glaring at her nurses and silently promising a reminder of who was in charge later.

Reaching the biobed, instead of putting her straight back down he held her a moment, not quite willing to let go and only when the Doctor stalked up behind them did he gently set the Captain back down to the bed, staying close. "She's trembling like a leaf." he said, glancing at the Doctor while staying right where he was by the Captain's side.

"She just had her spine ripped apart and put back together," Nicole said, trying to contain her anger at what he did. "I'm surprised she made it all the way to my office." She looked at the biobed's readings and positioned the Captain's body better on the bed. "Any tingling? Numbness? "she said gently, massaging the captain's extremities.

"My back is on fire," Rhea answered, resisting efforts to get her lie down, clearly because doing so would amplify the pain currently screaming through her nerves.

"Well, perhaps next time you'll stay face down where I had you," Nicole said, angrily, finally slapping the captain to shock her enough to make her stop struggling. "Stop! We need to immobilize you!" She took the momentary advantage to hit the antigrav controls, letting the Captain start to gently rise off the bed, taking the pressure off her spine.

The Captain didn't react much to being slapped, though Hunter responded by grabbing the doctor and physically pushing her back and away as he said furiously, "what the hell!?"

Nicole grabbed Hunter's wrist and twisting around, flipping him over and holding his arm hostage. "That," she growled. "That is the over-emotional involvement I can't have."

A groan of pain from the Captain became a cry she couldn't contain. From the base of her skull all the way down the pain in her spine was a searing, burning agony she'd experienced once before and now could not control the tears nor the plea for help. "Make it stop... Make it stop!"

Nicole dropped Hunter's arm and flew back to the Captain's side, increasing the anti-grav settings, the Captain's spine finally free of pressure, then grabbed a hypo and set it for a strong-sized dose of pain killer and pressed it to the Captain's neck. "There," she said gently, "just take some deep breaths. It will fade."

The Captain didn't respond, eyes closed but body still tense and shaking. Commander Hunter didn't speak, but fixed a burning stare on the doctor .. After a moment, he said in a low but, angry voice "I thought you said she was all right! You call that all right?!"

"Rhodes! S'tal!" Nicole shouted. The two male nurses hurried over as Nicole scanned the captain. "Get him out," she snarled. "If he attempts to resist or reenter, take him down and restrain him."

"Yes, Doctor," the two men said. S'tal stepped up in front of Hunter and offered his hand to assist. "Commander, if you will come with us?"

Hunter's expression was livid with anger. "You can't kick me out!"

"I am sorry, Commander, but regulations are quite clear about who has authority in Sickbay. I can remove you forcibly if you require it." He kept his hand extended politely.

Furious, the XO refused to leave, then he did at least move back and off to the side.

S'tal glanced at Rhodes who nodded and they advanced on the Commander, taking him by the arms and, ignoring his protests and threats of busting them down, escorted him out of Sickbay.

Nicole turned her back on them, focusing on her patient. She scanned the Captain again, then upped the anesthesia. She adjusted the antigravs and scanned the Captain's spine again. *If he tore the micro-sutures...* she thought. There was some aggravation to the area, but not enough damage that Nicole felt comfortable going back in. The captain was just in pain, and she was going to be on a long march to recovery. Her little walk to Nicole's office had been costly, but she was lucky it wasn't worse.

She squeezed the Captain's hand in a gentle rhythm and watched as the medication took effect. The captain's readings slowly leveled out and her breathing slowed. However, her breathing was still labored, and Nicole had no doubt she was still in discomfort, but the worst of the pain was finally ebbing.

"Listen carefully," Nicole said quietly after Rhea let out a shudder of relief, then moaned in discomfort. "The more you move, the more pain you will be in. If you want, I will bring you back to the surgical bay and have you immobilized completely, but that's not going to let you recover as quickly. Alternatively, I can put you in the isolation ward for some privacy and keep you relatively pain free, but you must keep yourself from moving more than a hand gesture here and there for a few days. Can you do that?"

"Not gonna be a problem..." Kennit replied, her words slightly slurred. "I need some water."

Nicole whistled to a nurse and had her bring over a glass of shaved ice and a spoon. She took both items and pulled a stool over, sitting down and gently feeding the Captain a small spoonful at a time, letting the ice melt in her mouth and hydrate without her choking. "I'm sorry this is so public," she said, "but as soon as you're body's had a chance to recover, we'll move you into a private area."

The Captain nodded slightly, savoring the ice for a moment to soothe her parched throat then asked, "what about Taggart?"

Nicole signed and glanced at the surgical bay where AJ was still lying. "He's requiring a lot of work. Unfortunately, his road to recovery is going to be as bumpy as yours, if not worse. It'll be several days before he's out of bed, and longer before he's walking right. I'm afraid he'll be off duty for some time."

The Captain nodded slowly, "he'll make it."

"If I have to drag his sorry arse there," Nicole said.

Rhea's eyes closed, but she then said, "he knows. Through the Collective." She didn't have to specify what, the doctor knew Rhea's 'colorful history'. Now, Taggart did too.

Nicole nodded, understanding. "Well, just another thing the three of us have in common," she said. She patted the Captain's arm and picked up a hypospray, programming it quickly. "Get some rest," she said. "I have to go fight an oncoming storm and you have to sleep." She pressed the hypo gently against the Captain's neck.

~End~

 

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