Aftermath

Posted on Tue Jan 2nd, 2024 @ 5:44am by Captain Samuel Woolheater & Crewman Adelaide Kirkby & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Lieutenant J'airesh Mora-Heath & Senior Chief Petty Officer Emily Charles {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: DECK TEN
Timeline: MD05 - Minutes after "Mere Anarchy"
3479 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

== PREVIOUSLY ==

“Adele! Oh…no…what have I done?!” Sam said as he stood there in shock from the nightmare, in shock from the sleepwalking and now to realize that he had just sunk the blade of his k-bar knife into a civilian.

Adelaide fell forward and reached for him. Sam caught her, gently, he eased her down as a few people gasped. With tears in his eyes, “Oh…Adele….shhh-shhh…” he was trembling and shaking as he held her. The knife buried in her chest up to the hilt.

“MEDIC!” he yelled. The word getting stopped in his throat as it clenched up. Sam looked up at the people just standing there looking at him and he got angry.

“I NEED A MEDIC NOW!” He yelled at the top of his voice as he held her dying in his arms, “NOW GOD DAMMIT! NOW!!”


==AND NOW THE CONTINUATION==

[ON:]


Adelaide looked so ghastly pale. Sam's hands were shaking as she looked up at him, forgiveness in her eyes. He tried to make her as comfortable as possible. He said to her, "Medics are coming...medics are coming...I'm so sorry Adele...I'm so sorry...don't move around OK..."

Alicia was nearby having heard a commotion, she’d heard the word that someone had been attacked and badly wounded. Rushing to the scene she was horrified at the sight that met her eyes, with no medics yet arrived she had to quickly rely on her own medical training as she knelt beside Sam and Adele.

Sam was grateful, profoundly so, to see a concerned person arrive. He looked up, "Help me. Please?"

Adelaide looked at Alicia and smiled in pain and gurgled out some blood.

“Okay...we err...we need to keep pressure on this” She offered Adele an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry Adele, this is going to hurt.” Tearing off her uniform sleeves she used them as rolled up wads to put pressure around the K-Bar knife wound without moving the knife itself. “Keep Adele still Sam, we need to keep her as still as possible.” She looked around. “WE NEED A MEDIC!...NOW!!”

He nodded and grasped Adele's hand and held it. He moved the strands of her hair out of her eyes as he looked around for the doctor or medic. The serrated edge was under skin and the knife was hilt deep. It was in the upper right chest area, but Sam didn't know how to describe the wound. Adele coughed and Sam tried to soothe her as best he could.

"It...huuuurrts..." Adele said to both of them.

“I know it does Adele” Alicia nodded as she looked worriedly at Sam. “I’m no Vulcan..” she wished Savar was here his mind meld would have helped with the pain. “I’m not sure what’s holding up the medical team.”

“Out of the way people!!” Emily dashed through the crowd that had formed around the scene. Kneeling beside Alicia she pulled out her medical tricorder, her face unreadable as she scanned Adele. “Okay, I’ll give you something for the pain, but I can’t risk anything too strong until we get you to surgery” she offered Adele a reassuring look as she pressed a hypo to her neck, even though her condition was precarious. “I daren’t risk a beam out” she breathed a sigh of relief as there was more commotion as the medical team arrived.

Sthilg arrived along with a hover stretcher. "What happened? " He barked as he indicated where the stretcher was to set down.

Adele's eyes were tearing up; the knife sticking out of her chest really, really hurt. It stung and breathing in was so painful. She felt cold and clammy, and she felt drained. She could hear different people around her, but she was not in good shape.

Sam continued to gently, but firmly, held her still so that she didn't move around too much. When Doctor Sthilg asked the question, that was the first moment when he felt 'guilty'. The first moment when he started to process the aftermath of his nightmare which bled over into waking. Plus, there was now a crowd of gawkers and looky-loo’s. They always said that if one ever got into a bar fight when off base, keep your damn mouth shut. But it didn't feel right to do so. And so Sam said, "It was me. It was an accident. I think I was sleepwalking. A damn nightmare. I didn't know where I was and she touched me right when I was being attacked...in the nightmare. It was instinct. I just...reacted. I didn't think I was awake. It was my fault but it’s an accident. I didn't mean to do this."

Now Sthilg had arrived Ellie took over from Alicia stemming the blood flow from around the main wound. “I’ve given pain relief Doctor, it’s all I dared do until you got here.” She gave Sthilg a knowing look, being a surgical nurse, she understood the severity of the wound.

Alicia wiped her hands before placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay Sam; she’ll be well taken care of now. I’ll help you through this, you’re not going to be going through this alone.”

Adelaide could hear the voice of the people around her. She knew that Doctor Sthilg had arrived, and she could hear him talking and that she was being cared for. She wanted to thank Alicia for the kindness and care she showed her. And she would when she got through this. And she wanted Sam not to worry. It was an accident. She knew that. She wished she could tell him not to worry but she was fading. The pain was a lot less now. And that's all she remembered.

Sam removed his hands when the doctors took over. He wasn't touching her wound as much so his hands had only a little of Adelaide's blood on them. Someone with an antiseptic disposable wiped his hands and was checking him over for injury. "I'm fine...I'm...fine..." he said as if it was someone else's voice.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and it stayed there. A medical tricorder was waved over him as he watched the medics work. He lifted his hands to his head and ran his fingers through his hair as he watched helplessly as other people worked.

He saw a few Security crew arrive. And all this time he felt that reassuring hand on his shoulder. He could hear Alicia's voice. Calm. Reassuring. Steady. Measured. A source of stability in the chaos. He heard her voice again, "... I’ll help you through this, you’re not going to be going through this alone."

He turned and said, "Commander? It’s an accident. I didn't mean to hurt her...or hurt anybody. I don't even know how I got here. Really. I was on deck thirty-two and then....I'm here..."

Alicia looked around noting some seats nearby. “Come with me Sam, don’t worry Adelaide is in good hands with my father. Let’s just take a seat a moment, let things calm down.” She sat down then looked at Sam. “So, you have no idea how you got here?”

He hesitated but went with her. He took a seat and put his head in his hands for a moment and took a deep breath and then answered, "I've been having trouble sleeping. I go to bed tired, and I wake up more tired. I'm sure that I'm tossing and turning. But lately, I've been having some vivid nightmares. At first, a few days ago now it was just...y'know...mild. Most dreams I can't remember but I know that I have dreamt. I know that we dream every night as part of sleep. The first nightmare I had was about a past...relationship I had. She was killed in an accident aboard a cruiser. The Jubilee? Maybe you heard about it? She was on that ship coming to Titan. We were going to be married. Emily was her name. Anyway, I relived that over again." He took a breath to see if it was OK to continue.

Alicia nodded, taking it all in as she listened. “It’s okay Sam, carry on...”

After a moment he continued, "I usually can't remember most of my dreams. Even the good ones, you know? The ones that are fantastic. The second one was also vivid, and it was worse. It made me feel...feelings while I was asleep, and I woke up feeling exhausted but also bad. I...we...were marooned on a planet somewhere out here in Circinus. Not like the ice planet. The slavers, the T'H's...they managed to beat us and a lot of us had been killed. I mean the whole crew. Not just Marines. The worst part was after I lost the rest of the team. I got left behind. The ship survived. You came looking for me. You didn't see me, and I couldn't get to you either. The worst part was seeing you all leave me behind. I lived for another twenty-years, I guess. It scared the shit out of me and when I woke up I knew that something was going on. Other guys don't talk about it much...but I think they're also suffering?

Alicia frowned. “I can’t say I like where this is going Sam, there’s nightmares and there’s induced nightmares...” she paused. “There could be more to this. What about today?”

"Today, I was really tired. I'm dizzy and I felt light-headed. I laid down just to take a nap. A quick snooze. I remember laying down. Then I guess I must have started dreaming. I had a horrible dream. The last part is where...they...were going to kill me. Or they had killed me; I knew I was dead. And I had a knife in my boot. And I was defending myself...with my guts falling out as I'm backing away. I threw the knife. And then I woke up here. On th Promenade and I really threw the knife at Adele. She wasn't in the dream...the nightmare. Oh god...am I going crazy? I don't want to go to sleep again. What if I hurt somebody else? Maybe this is the side effect of the drug they put in us for the transporter block? Maybe that's it?"

“I doubt it” She shook her head. “But I do think there’s more to it than that. As marines you’re this ship’s first line of defence against attackers.” What she didn’t say was that they could also be controlled to turn against the ship. “I want to access the ships log on your whereabouts, is that alright? I want to know if it’s possible that you, or any of the marines could have been abducted and returned without ever knowing it.”

"Of course. Internal sensors should give us the information we need. Is it possible that the slavers are already abducting members of the crew? Marines and others?" he asked, concerned, as he got to his feet.

“I don’t know Sam, I thought internal sensors were set to alert the bridge if anyone disappeared from the ship. If that’s not happening, then they’ve started a whole new round of more deadly nightmares.” Alicia sighed. “Let’s get you checked over in medical, it’ll show up if you’ve been part of any experiments.”

A Security approached and wanted to ask Sam a few questions. Woolheater recounted for the officer everything he had just shared with the Counselor. Two security officers joined them and when Sam had finished the officer said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Captain. Under the circumstances, we'd like to take you back to the Security office for further questions pending our investigation. The Counselor may accompany you if she wishes to do so."

Sam was surprised, a little. Part of him knew and understood that you just can't have people stabbing other people and do nothing about it. It's bad for business and a breach of ship protocol. Not to mention that even without a k-bar knife, most marines were lethal all by themselves. If, due to lack of sleep, this individual was a danger to others, or himself, it would be best to get him into custody and them have a medical exam.

"I understand. Yes. OK" he said to the officer. He looked at Alicia, "I don't want any trouble. Will you tell the Colonel or the MXO?" he asked her.

“Actually, I’d like to arrange that Captain Woolheater goes to Sickbay first, security can accompany us I’d just like medical checks as soon as possible.” She looked at the Security personnel, then back at Sam. “We can call the Colonel and the MXO from there.”

It was clearly written on their faces that the officers did not particularly like this idea. It is their job to maintain order aboard the ship. However, the Chief Counselor for the whole ship and daughter to the Chief Medical Officer, Commander Kelea-Salik was taking charge. She wasn't denying them the opportunity to do their job. She was looking out for the well-being of the person in front of her. And Sam recognized that she knew just what had happened as did the rest of the Security team. Whether it was her years of expertise in her field or her intuition in dealing with so many different people over the years Sam wasn't sure. It seemed to him that she was looking at the larger picture. The overarching view of what was happening to the crew and taking that into account. And not getting stuck in the details of a single event. And for all Sam knew, other crew had or were having similar difficulties.

The Security officer pursed his lips into a grimace. "Yes ma'am. We will escort you to the medical bay" he said. Then, looking at Sam, "Captain Woolheater, please consider yourself in custody. We will escort you and Commander Kelea-Salik to Medical for a checkup. You will comply with our commands at all times, and you will obey the commands of the medical staff. Understood?"

Sam listened as the officer spoke to him, but he was looking at the Commander. And he recognized and was grateful for what she was doing. When the officer was done speaking, Sam replied, "Yes, you won't have any problems from me."

The guard nodded, spoke to the other two and then said, "We're ready when you are Counselor."

J'Air was already in Main Sickbay after her part in the mass inoculations and was still working her way through the throngs of crew and their families who needed the milder shots. She also had a large number of civilians queued up, but she had finished injecting Marines awhile back.

Having heard the call for a Medic on the Promenade and also hearing Cmdr Sthilg reply and take on the response and attendance to it, she had returned to what she was doing until she saw the Counsellor, two Security Officers and Captain Woolheater all arriving at the main doors at which point she handed over to the Nurse next to her and hurried over to meet the incoming...... well, she imagined them to be new patients but they didn't look badly hurt, only the Captain did look very pale and seemed to have some blood on him but not enough to warrant such a large party of accompanying assistance.

Sickbay was busy like it was free pie & ice cream night at a 'Momma Mae's Kitchen Restaurant'. Sam looked around the bio beds to see if he could spot where they were treating Adelle. He didn't see her. Then he saw Doctor Mora-Heath coming over and gave her a nod in greeting.

Meeting them all as they came in and were clearly sorting themselves out, J'Air spoke to the Counsellor first, nodding to the captain as she then turned.

"Commander?" she asked Alicia "How can I help you?". The Chief Counsellor was a very familiar face in Sickbay and a senior officer, ranking above J'Air at Lt. Cmdr. rank, so it was perfectly natural for the ACMO to approach her senior officer and offer help, without any questions whilst automatically accepting her authority to command whatever this arrival meant and would roll out to become.

"I need a complete medical run-on Sam. We need to determine if he, and possibly other marines, have been abducted and returned to the ship." Alicia rubbed the bridge of her nose. "If they have, then we have a very big problem on our hands."

Sam asked J'air, "Did you see Crewman Kirkby come in? Adelaide Kirkby?" he was concerned.

"I did but the CMO took her straight to Theatre, Captain" J'Air answered Sam directly.

He nodded, "OK, thank you" he said in thanks.

"Tests, okay, could you hop up onto this Bio-Bed please" she spoke to both Samuel and Alicia now, opening out her arm to indicate the bed and her intention.

He was worried about what had happened and he wanted answers too. So even though he hated medical tests, sitting still, the scanning and the questions he just did as he was told. He got up on the biobed and sat back onto it and got settled.

When he was on the bed, she lowered the back so he was in a prone position and raised the large arms of the Med-Arch over him, her fingers flickering adeptly over the controls to instruct and initiate a whole range of tests, the first of which began to reel up onto the monitor behind the bed almost instantly as the more sophisticated ones began to work through their processes at the same time.

Sam was sure that everytime this thing clenched shut over him, he could feel his guts vibrating. Beeps started; a bunch of displays come on. He tried to just relax; but how could he?

It was both a wealth of information and something of an overwhelming onslaught of data all at once, but J'Air hadn't got to ACMO without having accrued enough experience of these tests and results not to be able to see and keep up with all the most important figures, phrases, and conclusions that it was offering her.

"I...... This is not possible...... How could this be ...... " she muttered as she read and re-read what was being shown.

Sam watched their faces and didn't like what he saw. ~When your doctors look worried - - when has that ever been a good sign?~ he thought to himself.

She turned to Alicia. "Somehow, there is a very clear overlay or interference that has happened to the Captains' anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex - They all show signs of damage. They look like they've been interfered with in a primitive but bruise forming manner."

Turning to look at Alicia, her face pale with shocked horror. "Those are the parts that control or produce nightmares. There is increased pressure as well as if the tissues and cells had been not only bruised but subjected to trauma. We have to ...... " she started to conclude but then stopped.

"Ma'am we need to report this and get some serious help and opinions from the CMO - and the Marine CO - and....." she paused, looking to let this sink in not only in her own shocked mind but also to let Alicia take it on board too.

From his vantage point, he could see the grim look on first J'air's face and then Alicia's. He was so worried. He closed his eyes, ~Might as well just not see their looks. Med people will figure this out. Then you'll know why you did what you did.~ The voice inside his head said. It was his own inner voice. He could hear the medical stuff dinging and bleeping, pinging and singing. It was strangely soothing. And he felt so tired anyway. Better to just close the eyes anyway. He felt way more tired than he had felt all day. His mind wandered. Just random occurrences - just a jumble of images. He had nodded off. He slipped into sleep and was unconscious rather quickly. This wasn't even a staff meeting and he was out already. He started dreaming. And the dreams were not good.

Alicia shook her head. "So, they've found a way around our security measures somehow. The implants should have alerted security to any disappearances, tracked people..." She was extremely worried. "Sam..." she turned to Woolheater who was once again deep asleep and dreaming. "That isn't good."

[OFF:]