Medical Chaos
Posted on Mon Dec 12th, 2022 @ 2:19am by Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Captain Samuel Woolheater & Captain David Tonelly [Reece] & Lieutenant Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen [Taylor] & Lieutenant Commander Kara Starr {Kelea-Salik} & Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish & Lieutenant Vise [Sthilg] Kesahl & Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Staff Sergeant Liam "Swede" Reece [Reece] & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Deanna Kelea & Skylah McBride [Lalor]
Edited on on Mon Dec 12th, 2022 @ 8:24am
Mission:
Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Various
Timeline: MD03 - 0315
3850 words - 7.7 OF Standard Post Measure
== Main Sickbay ==
{ON}
The injuries that Kara had sustained were more serious than Molly had diagnosed. She was able to stem the bleeding but not by much. Luckily(?) Kara had a weak pulse and wasn't a lot of pressure on the wound. There was nothing to carry her on. No stretchers, nothing even long enough to act as a stretcher. They did find a square crate top. Just wide enough and long enough that with Molly carrying her injured legs by holding them, the marines could place Kara's upper body and midsection on the platform. They carried her through deck ten and into sickbay. "INJURED COMING THROUGH!" one yelled. Molly said to anyone that would listen, "She's just barely stable. And I'm sure the wound on her left has opened up and on her side. Doctor Sthilg?!" Marines brought her in and looked for a place to put her.
Sthilg looked like he'd been through hell and he had. No rest or food and mostly straight surgeries since this disaster had begun. He was well over the limit for Starfleet operating hours, but right now dam the rulebook. Running over his hand already in it's scanner mood he began running it over her. " Get her...." He began before remembering the last biobed was occupied even the emergency reserve ones were full. " All mothersss teeth put her down over there. " He grumbled indicating a spot between two of the biobeds.
The marines immediately did as Doctor Sthilg commanded. They carefully maneuvered Kara's makeshift "stretcher" to a spot between to other biobeds. She was placed on the floor and the storage lid was removed. The marines removed themselves and stood back and out of the way. When they were sure that their charge was in proper hands, they left the medical ward and reported back to deck thirty-two for new orders. Molly however, remained behind to try and help.
Sthilg was busy running his tools along Kara's wound. Snow had floated over with a blood replicant which he had attached to an artery before hurrying off to help the many others.
There was slight audible moan as Kara slowly regained consciousness. Opening her eyes to see the familiar sight of Sthilg. Her mouth was dry, and she was really tired, all she managed to say was two words. “My...baby?”
" There going to be okay. Jussst lay ssstill and let me fix you." Sthilg replied calmly.
Alicia had seen Kara’s dramatic arrival from where she sat in another corner. Her mother was busy fussing over Connor & N’vea while Alicia waited for eventual surgery on her badly broken arm. Right now Sthilg was too low on staff for surgery for anything that wasn’t life threatening. She wished she was able to help rather than sit in a corner nursing a painful injury.
Savar had made his way into the medbay after putting Tux in his counseling office. Entering he walked quickly to Alicia, "Alicia, my love. How is your pain? Is there anything I can do to assist you?"
Alicia offered her husband a smile. “I hate just sitting here Savar, there’s so many that need comfort and help. I’m just sitting here waiting to get this damn arm sorted out!”
Sthilg continued his work doing his best to fix up Kara keeping his scanner running on her baby who thankfully was still fine despite all what had happened. Applying the medifoam he smiled as the blood had stop flowing. Small mercys. " Sssomeone get me sssome replicated blood for the lieutenant commander. " he barked to his team.
“On the way Doctor!” A young nurse who recently transferred aboard answered the CMO. She hadn’t imagined this nightmare scenario, but she was doing her best to carry on. “I can take care of this doctor, go and take a break while you can.” She offered Sthilg a smile.
Alicia moved slowly back to where she’d been sitting, her pain meds were wearing off and her broken arm was becoming very painful again. Sitting down she grimaced as she leaned back against the wall.
Deanna was doing her best to help as many as she could, she wasn’t a nurse but she could triage patients to try and lessen the workload for her fiancé. Seeing Alicia obviously in pain she telepathically ‘prodded’ both Sthilg and Savar, so one of them would check on her daughter.
Savar received the mental prod from Deanna and casually made his way over to his wife, "Alicia how are you coping with your arm? Do you need a 'boost’ to help you cope with the pain?"
Alicia nodded as she looked at Savar. “Yes, please. I think I’m just going to sit here for a while.”
Nodding, Savar placed his hand at her temple and spoke in a whisper. "My mind to your mind. Open your mind, there is no pain. You are stronger, more resilient than this. Focus your mind, force the pain down. Concentrate on Connor and N'vea and your love for them."
Alicia’s breathing eased as she focussed on Savar’s Vulcan teachings, he’d taught her a lot about her Vulcan heritage. Pain reduction was a plus point of controlling her mind. She focussed on her children, a smile on her face. “That’s better, thank you Imzadi.”
"You are welcome Alicia." Savar replied then in an entirely unVulcan gesture, he kissed her softly. "I am always here for you, my wife. Do you require anything else?"
“Just the company of you, and our children” Alicia smiled as she held onto Savar’s hand with her good hand. “I know you’re busy helping others though.
"That you will always have Alicia as I always have time for you." Savar assured her as he gently squeezed her uninjured hand.
Alicia smiled the happiest smile yet, then spotted her father. “Dad” She motioned him over. “Any ideas when I’ll be able to get this arm sorted out? I feel useless sitting here.”
Sthilg looked worse and worse with every hour. He had the thousand yard stare as did most of the medical team. " I'll get to you sssoon my dear." He said weakly but still holding his posture and strength.
Alicia shook her head. “Forget I asked, you need some rest that’s more important. I’ll cope until then. You have other staff here, take a few minutes while you still can.”
Still lying on the biobed, covered with a thermal blanket, Naxea watched her newborn baby, Sle'anna sleeping soundly in a medical crib next to her. Her thoughts were swirling with her daughter's safety. She was lucky that the baby was sleeping with all the death and chaos surrounding them. 'Guess being born takes alot out of an infant. You definitely take after your father in that regard,' she mused to herself as she pushed herself up more, grimacing as she did so. The pain from her fall and the C-Section was still present though a far cry from the pain she dealt with enroute from her quarters to Sickbay.
Deanna looked towards Naxea sensing the pain she was in. She offered a warm smile as she approached Naxea’s bed. “How are you dear?” She smiled as she looked at Naxea’s sleeping daughter. “She’s absolutely beautiful, a miracle child from what I understand of cross species genetics from Sthilg.”
Naxea returned the smile. "I am doing fine. There is no need to worry about me as there are others worse off than I am." She only wished she knew how her Marines were doing and that she could be with them. However, one look at her daughter changed all that--that little one needed her more than anyone else and who knew how long she'd sleep for.
“I know you’re in pain my dear” Deanna smiled. “Would you like some pain relief? I can organise it for you.”
"Sure, as long as there is plenty, if not, save it for someone else. I'm used to pain," Naxea grunted as she shifted her position on the biobed.
Deanna nodded. “Don’t worry there’ll be enough for you.” She headed over to a nearby nurse to request a dose, returning with a hypospray she gently pressed it to Naxea’s neck. “There you go, get some rest while you can.”
S'hib watched from across sickbay, wiping blood from his hands with a towel as Deanna left, so much had happened already, and it was getting busier by the minute.
He sighed, scrunching up the rag and casting it onto a trolly before slowly limping over, stopping at her side to stare at his daughter before looking up at Naxea. "I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have yelled..."
Naxea sat up now that the painkillers were taking effect. "No, you shouldn't have but I know how you feel, S'hib. A part of me wants to walk out that door and try to get to Marine Country but Sle'anna needs the both of us right now. Besides, you're doing a lot of good here with many of the medical staff absent."
"But that's what worries me though Nax, most of the injured here are from the same decks... we're missing a lot of people, people we can't even contact because comms are down..."
"We have to trust that others are capable and taking charge. Trust those under you, S'hib," Naxea insisted. "The Elysium is a large ship and without power, it may be best for them to remain where they are or head someplace else. For instance, Marine Country has a med station and its own generators
"It's not the ones that know what they're doing that I'm worried about, Nax... but I know what you mean." He said with an awkward pause before leaning down and kissing her forehead. "I'm going to get back to work, but I'll be back." he finished with a hushed tone, glancing down at his daughter before limping back off.
After Nicholas moved to the quarantine area, as instructed, he found a spot to gently lay his baby brother down. He then stepped back to give the harried medical staff room to save Liam.
Vise was the first staff through the door and hurried over. " Where did you find him." She asked as she fired up the scanner.
"In his quarters, with his step-daughter," Nicholas spoke first. "Their quarters caught fire and he got burned closing her bedroom door manually," he continued, remembering what he saw when he and Cassia arrived.
" Alright pass me the RAD from my bag. " Vise said as she got to work with the anti-burn gell. " Looking at Nicholas who was clearly lost with what she said she spoke again. " The respiration-aiding device the one with the long tube."
Nicholas nodded as he looked down into the indicated medical bag. After a few beats of searching, he pulled out what he thought was the right item. "This?" He showed it to the doctor, not knowing her name.
The trill nodded and taking the instrument gently prised Liam's mouth open pinching his tongue with her finger as she carefully inserted the tool down his throat. She began pumping as she turned to Nicholas. " Go and replicate me some Amoximane it's code 55673 in the replicator." She asked.
Cassia settled Skylah on her hip and stayed out of the way. She knew she could do more but with Skylah basically in her care, she had to make sure the child and her pet were safe.
Nicholas nodded and moved to the nearest medical replicator. He had to wait for several nurses who were getting meds for other injured crew, but finally, he was able to get the requested medication. Hurrying it back, he handed it over quickly. "Here!"
Quickly the white spotted trill added the small vile to the RAD and carried on the steady airflow. A smile spread over her tired face as her patient breathing steadied as the drug made it down and began healing his lungs.
Nicholas looked down at his brother. "What about the burn damage?"
" I'll apply the burn gell, but we have a line for the tissue regeneration he'll have to wait." Vise replied as she worked.
Nicholas looked around the packed treatment area, seeing just how bad things really were for the first time. At least his baby brother was alive and relatively safe. "Thank you, Doctor."
Suddenly, Nicholas started to feel ghost pain in his right knee. "Ow..." he said softly, confused briefly as he wasn't injured. Then it hit him. "Kyle!" His eyes grew very wide in worry. He looked over at Cassia. "Kyle's hurt! I gotta find him!"
Cassia shook her head. "Nico, you know that it will be hard to get to him."
Nicholas started to disagree, then realized that Cassia was right. Deflating some, he knelt down next to his severely injured baby brother and looked back up into Cassia's b3autiful eyes. "If Kyle...." he couldn't say the words aloud. He didn't dare tempt fate like that. Instead, he reached out for them both to sit down with him, as they stayed with Liam.
Sthilg had a breath moment of calm. Grabbing his kit he walked over to S'hib and Naxea. " Sss'hib if you can lay down I can do a quick fix on your leg muscle," he said calmly.
"Maybe later Doc," S'hib remarked as he glanced over Sthilgs shoulder and then nodded towards the door as more injured crew came flooding in. "We got work to do."
Commander Vaii carried an unconscious Arrianna into sickbay. "Medic!!!" Jess barked. Arri had got tossed around hard. And a beam had fallen on her ankles. She was almost comatose.
The gorn cursed as he hurried over. Running a scan over her he cursed again. " Get her down sssomewhere I'll be along in a ssseconed." he yelled.
==
Molly had stayed right beside Kara as long as she could. She wasn’t even sure Kara was conscious. Molly liked Kara. She was easy to work with and reasonable in her requests. So many previous doctors treat the lab technicians as if they were the “hired help”. Not here on Elysium, Molly felt like a part of the team. But she was just a lab specialist, not a doctor or a nurse. She had only the basic qualifications. And the injuries kept coming. More and more. It was too much, and she felt herself going into shock. She wandered out of the secondary medical bay and onto deck twenty-three. She found a corner that was out of the way and sat down. She was shaking and she could feel Elysium shaking as well. It was a slow, rhythmic vibration that was almost unnoticeable. It was a sound and a feeling that she had never heard or felt before. Molly sat down and covered herself with her coat and closed her eyes.
She could hear people all around her, moving, crying, screaming, hurting. Security and marine personnel worked tirelessly to bring injured crew here. And Molly felt very guilty that she wasn't up and about helping. But she also knew that she had to take care of herself too. She was still shaking but she was calmer. The jacket she was wearing, it was a marine jacket. Someone had given her his jacket. It was nice and warm, and she pretended that she could feel his arms – someone’s arms – around her telling her that everything was going to be alright. The lights flickered, Molly drew in closer and kept her head down. She wanted to just crawl in a hole. Just forget this whole thing and when they got things under control, she promised that she would work hard then.
Had she drifted off? For how long? She woke with a start. There were still many voices, still chaos all around her. She decided to get up and walk around a little. The lights were dimmer? She thought so. She wondered how long the emergency batteries would hold up? As she walked, she tried to not make eye contact with anyone. She kept her head down and her eyes forward. She came to a junction that she had not seen before. Well, she had never before even been on Deck Twenty-Three. She looked at the signage and thought how odd it looked.
JUNCTION “L” (LIMA) - - - JUNCTION “J” (JULIETTE) - - - BATTLE BRIDGE – RESTRICTED ACCESS
And she had no idea what that was. Whatever the ‘battle bridge’ was she wanted no part of it. She turned to the right and continued down the “J” for Juliette corridor. The lights were out up ahead and it was colder here. She turned a corner. She stopped. In front of her were three dead crewman. They were all piled up in a corner of the deck and they were frozen. In fact, there was frost all over the carpet and the walls. The lights flickered and she could hear a hissing sound.
Molly followed the sound. She heard it the strongest when she stood in front of a door that had yellow lights all around it. The yellow lights were flashing, once every two seconds. There were four glass panes here so that one could see the other side. She approached the door, wrapping the marine jacket closer around her as she inched forward. Above the door she could read the words “LIFEBOAT ACCESS 23-03” whenever the yellow lights illuminated the hexagonal doorway.
It didn’t make sense to her. Why were three crewman frozen in the corner opposite of this doorway. The deck wasn’t decompressed. It was cold but life support was probably low. She peered into the area just beyond the door and screamed and stood back. She put her hand to her mouth and started crying. She was shaking. There was an LCARS panel that was flashing near where the door latch was. The latch had been partially engaged. And then something had re-engaged it. The LCARS panel read:
===== LIFEBOAT ACCESS FAILURE ===== EMERGENCY SYSTEM OVERRIDE: FAILURE =====
Molly looked again.
Just beyond the door, there was an emergency evacuation lifeboat. It was half way off the maglocks that held it in place. The door to the lifeboat was stuck open by the bodies of perhaps three or four crewman. And inside the lifeboat were perhaps eight or nine persons. They were all dead. The lifeboat must have been damaged or the clamping system wasn’t done properly and the lifeboat failed to detach. She thought about the panic and the horror those persons must have been in when they must have tried to rush the lifeboat and get off the ship. Molly cried because she was so scared now. She had to tell someone! What if other people tried to get into the lifeboats? What if more systems were damaged. Her skin was cold, her feet felt frozen. Where was the cold coming from?
~Oh no~ she thought to herself. Molly knelt and looked at the door frame. She saw a crack. It was metal fatigue, but Molly didn’t know that. She used her fingers to touch the crack and to her horror, the crack got bigger as she was watching. She had a bad feeling about this. She had to tell the others! She got to her feet and started running.
A moment later, the metal fatigue, the weakened superstructure and the imperceptible amount of torque that was being applied was too much. And the door that was flashing yellow gave way. In an instant, the corridor was evacuated and Molly and the three dead crewmen were sucked out into space. Immediately, the emergency bulkhead fired off and closed this section at the junctions of Lima and Juliette. Molly never got to tell anyone about her terrible discovery. She never got to tell other how much she loved them. She never got to tell Kara how much she appreciated and liked working for her. She never got a chance to return this marine’s jacket to him. Molly didn’t suffer. On the way out she hit her head against a wall and was knocked out. She was dead a minute later. Still wrapped in that jacket and longing to meet its owner. Her terrible discovery not shared.
=====
"Did your ears just pop?" one marine asked another. "Man, my ears, my neck, my knees and my toes have been popping ever since this started" the other responded. The first looked around and said, "You an old man. I'm a go take a look." The other PFC was annoyed, "Where do you think you're going?" The first walked away scanning the deck with his eyes as he walked towards the battle bridge. The second called after him, "HEY!? Don't go too far numbnuts."
In a minute he arrived at the end of the corridor junctions "Juliette" and "Lima" according to the signage. Everything looked normal for a ship that had run into a quantum filament. Down at the end of the 'Juliette' corridor the emergency bulkhead had closed. "Pfft! Awww...nuts to this" he said and returned to his SAR team. "Well? Anything?" the second asked. "Nope" said the first. The second cracked his neck with a look and said, "Don't go looking for more work. N'kay? Our plate is fuckin' full enough as is." The first nodded, "Yup."
BACK AT THE EMERGENCY BULKHEAD
The closed door stood there seemingly study and immoveable. The single piece of duranium steel and transparent aluminum was some of the strongest materials the ship wrights used. It was, by all accounts foolproof and error free. A modern marvel of starship design and engineering.
A light...flickered. This side of the bulkhead door. It came on again so it must just be that the batteries are under load. Oh? There it is again. How odd. The door seams are tight. There is no air leakage. The seals on the transparent aluminum window panes is tight. Nothing wrong there. Heck, smelling the emergency it still has that new ship smell. It's never even been used before.
Oh, there the light flickered again. What's that glowing on the other side? It looks like...yes...it looks like there might be movement. Movement?
Movement! Standing up on our toes, we can see on the other side of the bulkhead and into the next compartment. Th one that used to house the evacuation lifeboat? Its been torn away and a big piece of the deck is all wobbly and flaying wildly. Of course there is no sound. Beyond the floppy metals that used to be the corridor and deck floor is the shards and shreds of the lifeboat. And beyond that are the stars. Look at how they turn. How they spin. If one didn't know better, one might think that the ship herself was in some kind of...spin.
TBC
