These are not billable hours

Posted on Sun Jan 1st, 2023 @ 6:09am by Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D. & Lieutenant Myne Redal

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Deck 14 - Corridor
Timeline: Current
2101 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

Myne grunted and she gripped the piece of whatever sticking out of her left side. She was not phased by the blood or by the death of the crewman laying on the floor just a few feet away from her, in the door of his cabin. The initial shock wore off, sort of.

She had wrestled control over herself but memories kept flooding her. So much death, over decades upon decades upon centuries. It chilled the blood in her veins true, but helped. She could feel the panic washing away as her heart hardened. Myne had seen too much over too many lifetimes.

However, seeing them and doing them were two different things. Which is why she hesitated. She knew the pain what would come once she pulled the blasted piece of metal out, but she could not. It needed to come out so that Redal could do his damn job and tend to her wound.

But, what if she didn't? Bleeding out did mean she could put herself out of her misery and make sure Redal didn't hurt anyone else ever again? Why was this thought filling her mind so much right now?

She wasn't sure how, but somehow Tate had managed to remain an injured during whatever God awful event had tossed the ship around like a ragdoll in a wind tunnel. This wasn't the first time Tate had experienced a catastrophic event aboard the Elysium but somehow this felt different. Taking note of the hair standing up on the back of her neck and the metallic taste of adrenaline in her mouth, she realized this felt different because she was completely alone. Her sense of isolation was only compounded by the realization she was surrounded by not quite complete silence.

Life aboard a starship meant one was always surrounded by sound - the thrum of the warp engines, of power pulsing through conduits, even the energy of people themselves - but it was only now that she was without any of it that she felt her stomach clench with anxiety. She held her breath as she waited for emergency power to kick in and for communications to get back online. When emergency back up systems didn't kick in and she was still bathed in darkness, she knew things were worse than anything she had experienced so far. Trying her own badge, she realized she couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

Taking a steadying breath, Sullivan knelt down to the floor and picked up her med kit. Thankfully, when it was knocked off a nearby shelf, it hadn't popped open. Sullivan had no idea what she was going to find if she was even able to leave her office, but it didn't take a doctor or a nurse to know that the moans she heard nearby to know there were wounded in need of attention. In fact, moans and groans we're about the only sounds she was aware of, making the situation that much more horrific.

Manually prying open her office doors she steeled herself for whatever was on the other side. To her surprise, she barely had to walk 4 feet before she came across a woman collapsed against the bulkhead. Instinctually, she knelt down to tend to her, somehow managing to open the med kit without fumbling. Not recognizing the woman off the bat, she offered, "I'm Tate, and I'm going to help you."

Myne looked up the newcomer for a long moment. Her presence snapped Myne from her not at all healthy train of thought. The pain in her side was still very distracting and Myne realized she was still holding onto the metal shard.

"Heya! Myne is my name. My symbiont is having a tiny bit of problem with this not so fun intruder. Can you lend a hand?" Taking a breath to grunt from the pain, closing her eyes for a brief second, she sighed and looked at Tate once more. "You have functional limbs right? Just, yank the thing and give me a moment to scream in pain after." She chuckled despite the pain.

It was comforting to see despite the pain, Myne was alert and in good spirits. It wasn't until she mentioned a symbiont that Tate realized the other woman was Trill. Of course, the medical scan revealed as much but in the heat of the moment, her species wasn't something Tate was attuned to. "It's nice to meet you. Normally, I would not get in the way of someone else's desires, but I'm not sure pulling out that shard is the best idea. I'm concerned you could bleed to death or cause more damage if it's removed without proper medical attention."

Another grunt followed by a sigh and Myne let go of the shard sticking out of her. "So, you're telling me this piece of metal is my new best friend now?" Myne tried to keep the mood light as she looked at Tate and nodded. "Fine, any chance you have some fun drugs in your medic thingy? I like the pain just as much as any other operations officer, but honestly it is starting to get distracting. Get it? Because you have to be a masochist to work in ops because of the ludicrous amount of paperwork?" Myne chuckled once again, regretting the act as she followed it with a another grunt.

Tate smiled. The fact the operations officer was trying to keep both their spirits up despite her obvious pain only endeared her to Sullivan more. The counselor didn't need any more incentive to be maternal toward the injured officer, but her likability only intensified the anxiety she felt because she had another person's life in her hands. This was not her typical turn in Sickbay during an emergency in which she could triage and treat, but hand patients over if the injuries were outside of her skill set.

Calming her own breathing, Sullivan forced herself to focus on her emergency training. "Sure thing. Before I give you anything, however, I just need to make sure you don't have any other injuries that could be impacted by any medicines I give you. Scans can reveal a lot, but don't always show the full scale of everything. Just take some slow breaths for me and let me know if you feel any pain or other symptoms, OK? I am here with you and we're going to get through this together. Just focus on me."

"Tate, I am not as young as I seem. I am Joined, and I for one remember how my previous hosts died and how many times they've been through worse situations." Myne smiled and tried to stifle another grunt. "Maybe a bruised side and back, but other than that I am peachy. Honestly, this doesn't even look to bad!" She nodded to the piee of metal sticking out of her. "Give me a stapler and I'll have this little thing patched up in no time!"

"I was playing the Earth instrument thing before I even noticed the pain. So you know, it's just a flesh wound, but the pain is distracting. And I would love to get to the battle bridge if I can lean on you for a bit." Despite her uniform being stained with blood in several places, it was not hers. The dead crewmate at the nearby cabin had been the source. From him she had taken the violin now resting next to her on the floor. But Myne kept her smile plastered on and tried to urge Tate as best as she could. Some bravado should help with that, right?

Tate was only trying to be reassuring and professional, but she was embarrassed to realize she might've just come across as overreacting and in a panic. She felt as if she was being chided for her behavior and it wasn't something she expected. "Well, at least you were keeping yourself occupied during our lockdown," she replied with a wry smile as she loaded a painkiller into a hypo. "I'll help you stabilize that shrapnel in just a sec, but before I give you this painkiller, are you allergic to anything in particular when it comes to medication?"

"Pays to have a hobby, right?" Myne smiled and winked at Tate, keeping up her bravado. Until the allergy question came up. "Erm... wow, yeah. Erm, a loooot of things. Insect bites, any kind of insect, there are thousands, millions maybe of types across all known planets, so I can't give you a specific one, but yeah. Insect bites are deadly to me."

Looking over Tate's expression for a moment, Myne reiterated. "I am not joking, this is not me being funny for a change doc. I am deadly serious! Actually deadly serious, since you know, I can die." Still, Myne chuckled, unable to help herself despite looking at the hypo with obvious concern and a bit of fear already.

"I'm confident there are no insects in these meds," Tate offered wryly. "When I asked about allergies, I meant in terms of medication," she clarified, now concerned Myne was going into shock. She added another vial to help stabilize Myne's blood pressure and reached for the tape to stabilize the shrapnel. If they were going to move, she had to make sure to limit the internal damage.

"Oh, none of those, sorry. Haha, I have been reading recently on old Earthling medicine practices and that put the fear of the holy market crash in me." Myne chuckled through a bout of pain. "I stopped reading when I got to the part of Humans raising millions, billions of these very allergic insects called bees. I swear Tate, that is some scary, terrifying reading. They can kill a person with just one sting, damn killing machines."

Despite the stress of the moment, Tate found herself continuing to smile as she administered all of the beds. "If I recall correctly, a bee that stings loses its stinger and dies… So it would be mutual annihilation. It's too bad in that case, they wouldn't learn to cooperate and work together as we are." Sullivan turned her attention to applying the tape, securing the sword in place. "There we go. You'll need to move carefully to avoid aggravating the injury, but I say it's about as good as I can get it for now. You are not allowed to die on me, OK?"

"Really? They kill themselves to kill others? Bees are terrifying! You people are really weird to have kept such vicious predators in your ecosystem for so long." Myne shook her head sagely as the pain grew dull and she could breathe easier. "Wow you've got good hands Tate, I feel much better already. Any chance you can help me get up? Also, yeah, no. Redal might be a bad luck symbiont, but it's very lucky when death is concerned. Four centuries and no one has yet to die with Redal inside."

"I have to tell you," Tate began as she eased Myne into a standing position, "I'm not used to being comforted. I'm usually the person who does the comforting. I'm a bit embarrassed to think I left you thinking I was going to go hysterical," she added with a grin. "Even if that was your impression, do you think you could lie to me? I have to maintain my street cred, you know?" Sullivan teased.

Myne cnuchled and winked at Tate with a sudden genuine smile. "Sorry, force of habit. We're deep in the creek, I think the Human expression is. I'm assuming anyone I meet will need comforting. And I've raised my fair share of kids. You'd get a panic attack if you saw how many happy birthday letters I send every year to my many grand kids." She laughed carefully, as if testing how the intruder logged in her body felt as Tate helped her up onto her feet.

"Thank you Tate, you really came through and saved my butt." Myne rested her dried blood covered hand on Tate's upper arm without thinking or noticing. "And no, I was not lying to you. Four centuries, no deaths yet without chance for the symbiont to survive. So you know, I see no unjoined Trills near us or medbays, which mean I think my chances of not dying are really good. But your street cred is unblemished, I will tell everyone how I was saved by the brave, dashing, comforting officer Tate! No worries."


//OFF//

Lieutenant Myne Redal
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Elysium

&

Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D.
Assistant Chief Counselor
USS Elysium