Field Hospital - Concern

Posted on Fri Dec 14th, 2018 @ 8:53am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris
Edited on on Sat Dec 15th, 2018 @ 4:03am

Mission: Season 2: Episode 3: Determination is not always a good thing
Location: Cortic
1965 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

“Can I see that dirk for a moment, Corporal?” Estelle asked.

“Sure. Who was that old fool, anyway?” Mona wondered.

“I don’t know. Let him go, though. I’m sure he’s just desperate”, Estelle said. “We’re not enough down here to even begin to put everyone at ease within a reasonable amount of time. Still…”

“I wonder what it’s like in the streets”, Julia said.

“I’d rather not find out. I became a surgeon so I wouldn’t have to go where people are being violent to one another”, Estelle said. She placed the dirk on the table and snapped a picture, then sent it on to Liorga. She titled the message ‘unsolicited dirk pic’, and added a short text saying, ‘Could use your help, love. Someone’s used this trying to nick supplies off me.’

Liorga immediately sent a message back, ‘What the frack? Where are you? I’m coming!’

Estelle tapped her combadge. She figured sending text messages was only good for the novelty factor, using voice communication seemed more useful to her. Who would send texts if they could call, anyway? “I’m outside Cortic at the Home Guard field hospital, Liorga. They’re wonderfully eager here but they haven’t got a terribly good perimeter.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll get Gallia to let me go early.” Liorga replied, fully intending to go down to that hospital and protect Estelle herself.

“Couldn’t think of anyone better qualified to build one, thank you”, Estelle responded.

“Build what?” Liorga paused, “A perimeter?”

“Yes. A force field barrier or two, we’ll be able to channel who comes in here”, Estelle said. “I’ve got a marine here, Corporal…”

“Mona Lott”, she said.

“I’m sure you do”, Estelle winked. “Well, a marine Corporal here, who looks awfully fierce in her green, dirk-waving kind of way. But she can’t patrol hundreds of metres of perimeter by herself.”

“Word gets round I’ve got a dirk, they’ll all back off”, Mona joked. “They don’t like it up ‘em, you know?”

“I’ll get Gallia to lend me Sami for a few minutes.” Liorga decided, she knew Gallia would be happy to help, “We can beam over with a couple of field generators, only take a few minutes to set everything up.”

“Splendid, thank you, Liorga”, Estelle said. “I’ll introduce you to an old friend of mine when you come over here.”

“Okay, we’ll be over ASAP.” Liorga promised. As soon as she was off with Estelle she made her way to Gallia, “Sir, I need to take Justice and go to the field hospital.”

“Field hospital?” Gallia asked, incredulous; they were up to their butts in work there and now her top NCO wanted to vanish with another pair of her best hands? “What the Devil for?”

“Need to establish a security perimeter.” Liorga replied, “Dr. Hertz was almost knifed, Sir.” He turned the picture so Gallia could see it, “This.”

“That’s not a knife, ya silly cueball!” Gallia snapped, “It’s a dirk! And what the Hell are ya waitin’ for? Christmas? Cart your arse over there and set up security for ma bestie! Toot sweet!”

“Aye aye, Sir.” Liorga laughed, “Justice, you’re with me. Grab about half a dozen force field emitters, we’re going to set up a secure perimeter with a couple access choke points.”

“Better take Doro, too.” Gallia interjected; he needed the experience being greener than Gallia. Also he was a behemoth who could carry a lot more stuff than Sami, no matter how strong she was.

“Right.” Liorga nodded, “Okay, kid, you heard the boss, assholes and elbows, let’s go!”

A few minutes later Liorga and most of Gallia’s team shimmered into being in front of Estelle, “Are you okay?” She asked, running to Estelle and taking her into her arms, her heart beating like a machine gun.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine, don’t worry”, Estelle said, going for Liorga’s wrist to feel her pulse. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“What’s worrying is this coffee”, Mona said, having finished Estelle’s lunch. “They took water from the latrines, did they?”

“Don’t know, she sucked down all the good stuff long ago by now.” Liorga answered, “Mona, right?”

“Yes, that’s me”, the Orion smiled. “More competent with these than as a driver.” She held up her phaser and the dirk.

“And this is Julia”, Estelle said, pointing to the civilian waiting somewhat lost among the gathering of fleet personnel. “She was my roommate at the Academy, though she’s a civilian researcher now.”

“Hi”, Julia waved.

Liorga immediately started to laugh when she realized who she was looking at, to the point where Sami shrugged at her as if to say ‘What the Hell, Li?’ “Okay, guess I should explain, this woman made Estelle bald.” Liorga began, still laughing hard, “Of course, in her defense, Estelle had made her green first. Is that basically how it went, love?”

“It is, yes”, Estelle confirmed.

“One of many episodes”, Julia said. “I got to take some nice pictures, though.”

“We’ve seen some.” Liorga laughed, “Okay, so let’s spread out, I want two entrances, choke points, where we can post a guard who’ll have control of the field to drop it long enough for orderly entry. Sami, I want you to set up front entry. Doro, I want you to get the back door ready in case we need to do mass casualties.” Sami immediately went to work, taking two emitters and their associated control devices, but Doro for some reason was just standing there, staring at Julia…. Dumb horny kid, she thought, smirking, “DORO! WAKE UP!”

“Yes, sir!” Doro replied, snapping back to reality immediately and getting his ass in gear.

“Everyone fancies green”, Julia laughed.

“Don’t I know it”, Mona remarked.

“I don’t know about that.” Liorga shrugged, “Blonde doctors say bald is beautiful.”

“It is, but it needs more green”, Mona teased.

“I’ll bear that in mind”, Estelle said. “I’ve still got the formula.”

“Dont. You. Dare.” Liorga whispered menacingly, not realizing that Justice was standing behind her mouthing ‘Do it, do it!’

“In the meantime, can I do anything to help?” Mona asked, switching the topic back to what was at hand.

“Yeah.” Liorga answered quickly, “Show Justice where you want that front door at.”

“I better introduce you to the camp commandant”, Estelle said. “He’ll hate us making that call for him. He’s a bit pompous but we can’t doubt his motivations.

“He just hates being unarmed”, Julia said.

“But the way he’s going about it is most irritating”, Estelle maintained. “It’s no use just having a stick up your shaft that you can pull out and beat people with in a pinch.”

“He sounds like fun.” Liorga rolled her eyes, wondering if she needed to call Gallia to come assist.

Estelle led the others out the room. “He’s not a bad guy. He’s just a bit eager. Problem is, he doesn’t seem to have a sense of humour, and that makes it rather difficult.” She put her arm around Liorga, then whispered. “Thank you for coming so quickly, love.”

“Well, when people start trying to stab my girlfriend I find another gear.” Liorga laughed, “Glad you’re okay. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, my heart rate has decreased significantly.”

“It’s cute, in a way”, Estelle grinned. “Ah, there he is. Captain Anderson!”

The older man, no taller than Anje but almost as wide and deep, turned around and approached the lot. “Yes, doctor?” He put his cap back on his balding head and wobbled over.

“These kind Starfleet engineers are offering to fortify this field hospital with some shield generators”, the surgeon explained. “Where would you want the gates?”

“A shield? Why is that necessary?” he asked.

“There have been reports of looting and we’ve also been warned about riots”, Mona said.

“We haven’t got the power to run shields”, Anderson said.

“The generators come with their own internal power source.” Liorga interjected, adding, “Sir.” This guy obviously took himself very seriously, she knew she needed to tread lightly.

“Ah, that changes things”, he concluded. “Yes, then I accept. But we need to stay open towards the city, we’ve got teams going through the buildings, digging wounded out of the rubble, and with all the interference our surface-based transporters aren’t reliable enough. We depend on vehicular transport.”

“I understand.” Liorga nodded, “If you’d like, I can have the officer in charge of my team join us, Captain. Maybe we can figure out a way to boost the power on your transporters.”

“I’m afraid we’ve not been given the best sensors”, Anderson said. “If you could swap them out with your top of the line gear, our transporters should be able to get people here safely.”

“Some of the equipment here hasn’t been in Starfleet use for almost a century”, Estelle added, “Solid, reliable under normal circumstances, but… I’ve had to adapt my surgical techniques, even.”

“Colonel vel-Cro got us the best she could on our budget”, Anderson said.

“I think if nothing else we can replicate some upgraded tech for you.” Liorga said, taking in the view of the material available and muttering, “It’s positively archaic…”

“Did you say vel-Cro, Captain?” Liorga asked, the name suddenly registering with her, from a long time ago, during the War.

“Yes. Small Andorian woman, same height as me”, Anderson said. “Only her reason is she’s lost her legs, mine is I grew up on a high gravity world.”

“Yeah, it’s who I thought.” Liorga said, glad to know that she had survived, “Got nailed up close with a Breen disruptor, we did repairs on the shuttle that brought her in to the field hospital near our firebase. The fracking Breen kept right on blasting away at that shuttle… A gorram medical shuttle. Bastards.”

“Let’s not be reminded of those dark times”, Anderson said. “Whatever’s causing this, it’s got to be easier to deal with than the Dominion.” He pointed at a tree in the medium distance. “If you could leave us a gate next to that tree, about five metres wide? And mark it out so people can see where they’re going.”

“Right.” Liorga nodded, “And, that sounds like a good placement, Captain. I’ll have Crewman Justice set the front door there. We’re going to set a bigger one in the back in case we have to have mass casualties brought in. The generators will provide an all around perimeter except for those spots, though we can arrange for them to be remote controlled so the entry points can be sealed off if need be.”

“Excellent, Petty Officer”, Anderson agreed. “Do it.” He did enjoy having the last word.

“I’d love to help but I’m afraid I’ll have to go back into the operating ward”, Estelle said. “My break time’s up.”

“Come see me in about five hours”, Julia offered. “If you want some stories, that is.”

“Don’t you dare!” Estelle protested.

“I’ll probably be more interested in dinner by that point.” Liorga laughed.

“Our replicators still work”, Julia said.

“Not if your coffee is any indication”, Mona chimed in.

“I sent Estelle down with good stuff.” Liorga shrugged, “Guess it was gone before it got to you.” With that, Liorga nodded to Anderson and went to find the team, it was past time for them to get these generators up and running.