Collateral Damage
Posted on 31 Jul 2016 @ 2:33am by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D.
2,517 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Risky Business
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 6 || 1145 Hours
Joey had only been back aboard the Black Hawk for a matter of minutes, and hadn't had the time to let anyone know. What she wouldn't give to be able to curl up in a corner somewhere and sleep for a while, but it would be a while before that was a possibility. Right now, she was on a mission to have damage repaired to the ship's newest prisoners. Or, well... they would be once they were on their feet again. They'd both been disarmed not long ago, and were now at the mercy of the ship and her crew, something she knew neither would be pleased about once they woke up. Sadly... or perhaps not... Corwin found that she just didn't care. They were the enemy.
The Lieutenant made her way into sickbay with a few Security personnel carrying in the limp bodies of a Marine and someone who belonged to either Science of Medical. She could already tell the department was still suffering the effects from the disasters of the day, and here she was adding to the workload. She didn't feel guilty about it, but found herself hoping the staff would forgive her once all of this was over.
Corwin, herself, hugged her left arm to her chest and refused to move it even slightly. Catching herself in the Jeffries tube to keep from falling to her death along with the hit she took afterward had cause enough damage, but the fact she'd continued to use it made it worse. Now, she was feeling it, and it was all she could do to keep her face a neutral mask. She'd get herself taken care of the moment the others were. Their treatment was on a high list of priorities, while hers was not. She made it this long with the pain... a little longer wouldn't hurt anything.
"Put them on biobeds while I go find a doctor, and stay with them at all times. Neither of them are to be left alone until they're tucked safely inside the brig," the Lieutenant said as she walked away. She didn't need to look back to know that her orders were already being carried out.
And, thankfully, it didn't take long for Joey to find exactly who she was looking for. Doctor Abbey Road. She recognized her from her personnel file. Sometimes, it paid to memorize the faces of key people in certain departments. "Doctor Road, I'm Lieutenant Corwin. I just returned from the Chimera, and I've brought a couple patients with me that require medical attention."
Abbey looked up from the patient asleep on the bio bed and smiled gently at Corwin. Luckily, things have quieted down a bit in Sick Bay and they were quickly catching up. "Of course," she said, noticing the way Joey held her arm. "You look as if you could use some help, too." She caught a passing nurse and instructed he to check on Kij and notify her if there was any change. "All right," she said, returning her smile to the taller woman. "Where are they?"
"I'm fine for the time being, Doctor, but the two who need your assistance are over there on the biobeds under guard," Joey replied, gesturing with her right arm. "The guards won't be too far away. I've got reports to put in, and once those are done, I'll be back."
Lucas, who had not been standing too far away looking over some reports of their more critically injured patients, made his way over to the two women. He eyed the Security officer that kept her arm stable against her chest, then cocked his head to the side. "You're fine for the time being?" he asked, folding his arms across his broad chest. "We're going to run a series of tests right now to see just how fine you really are. Raise your arms above your head for me."
Joey looked up at the massive man who'd just approached the two of them and shot daggers at him.
"If that one's too hard, then why don't you clap?" Lucas asked, trying to hold back a smile. It was the next look he earned for the taller woman that had him looking toward Abbey. "I'll patch Lieutenant Corwin up, then come back to help you with these two."
"That sounds like a good idea," she said pointedly, raising her eyebrows at Corwin as she took two steps backwards, then turned towards the two figures lying on biobeds. She pulled out her tricorder and started scans. "Shhhh..." she trailed off, unable to think of something safe to attach to that beginning. "Never mind. What in the known universe happened to them?"
The raised eyebrows didn't go unnoticed by Joey as she looked over to Road. The two patients were both unconscious, and even if they weren't they still wouldn't be able to hear anything going on around them. "They're from the enemy ship. The Captain wants to question them, which means they need to be fixed up before that can happen. They're currently suffering from deafness and extensive nerve damage." She didn't appear too happy to have to give details on what happened, but if it meant they could be fixed easier for their next purpose, then she would do it. "You can expect a few more to come through just like these two."
Lucas looked to Joey as she explained what was currently wrong with their two newest patients, and they'd be having more coming through? It was going to be an incredibly long day. He moved over to the Chimera's CMO and began getting her hooked up to the biofunction and neural monitors. "Doctor Road, thirty ccs of Alkyzine and a myelin regenerator should take care of the nerve damage." He looked thoughtful. "Once the nerve damage has been taken care of, a bioregeneration field should take care of their burst eardrums. We'll re-evaluate to see where we're at. If more needs to be done, we'll make it happen."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," said Abbey absently as she readied a hypospray and pressed it to each of their necks in turn. She then busied herself with the regenerators. As a doctor, she felt this was excessive, but at the same time, she could understand. Sometimes, it was the "them or us" mentality that kept the right people alive. But, it didn't mean she had to like it.
"I'll touch base with you once I've had the chance to take care of Lieutenant Corwin's injury," the giant of a man said, gesturing for Joey to follow him over to one of the vacant biobeds. He had similar feelings as Road did, but on the flip side of that coin, he knew it was a necessary evil considering she was on a ship of one hundred and fifty people who would have stopped at nothing to kill the lone officer. Not to mention with the technology they had now, fixing them up wouldn't be an issue.
Corwin followed Doctor Abrams over to the indicated biobed and slipped onto it, using her one good arm to aid her in getting situated. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible considering she still had quite a bit to do, but she'd try to be patient. Even Joey knew the longer she walked around like this, the worse off she'd be.
"Where are you experiencing the most pain?" Lucas asked as he pulled out the medical tricorder and removed the probe. The second he got his answer, he began to move the probe along her shoulder, looking at the readings as they came through. His brows furrowed as a frown marred his lips. "When did this happen?"
Joey took a deep breath. "While I was on the Chimera. I was sliding down a ladder in the Jeffries tube when an explosion happened. It was either catch myself or fall to my death, and I wasn't going to let that happen. After I managed to grab onto one of the rungs, I felt searing pain. It wasn't one of my finer moments, but I had no intentions of dying."
Abrams canted his head. "And you managed to continue using your arm afterward?"
"I overlooked the fact that it felt like I had twelve very angry miniature Nausicaans fighting to the death inside my shoulder so I could do what I was sent over to do," she replied, wishing he'd put her out of her misery already. "What can you do to fix it?"
Lucas was not impressed by the joke she cracked, nor did he look impressed by the readings she was getting. "Surgery. You've done pretty extensive damage to multiple parts of your shoulder, Lieutenant. Your rotator cuff is in pieces, you've got multiple torn ligaments, a fractured clavicle and tears in your tendon."
If Joey had a hole she could crawl into, she would the second he looked down at her. It said it all. He was not pleased with her, and she honestly didn't think it was that bad. "Well, Doc, I suppose you should do what you have to do, then."
"Oh, I was going to anyway, Lieutenant. You sit tight for a moment while I get one of the nurses to prep you. And for the record... your injuries weren't this bad when you first sustained them," he said before giving her something for the pain and turning to walk away.
Abbey, meanwhile, kept watch over the two meyelin regenerators that were working on the two patients' nerves. She wrinkled her brow at them, willing them to work faster, but of course that was impossible. It was going to take a lot of time. And, given the nature of the injuries, she couldn't leave the regenerators to do their work because they had to be adjusted regularly.
A nurse came by to tell her that Doctor Kij had woken up briefly, but after sleepily answering a few questions, had gone back to sleep. Abbey thanked her and her wrinkled brow deepened. It seemed Jayla was worse than they'd thought, but at least she was healing. She couldn't ask for much more than that.
One of the regenerators beeped and she made a quick tweak to the output, then turned to check the other. It was still fine. If she found the process tedious, she didn't show it. On the contrary, she used this time to think. She often came up with solutions to problems while monitoring medical equipment. Today's issue: coming up with a better way to monitor medical equipment. She didn't expect to come up with a solution to this one, but she thought about it anyway.
Doctor Abrams approached Abbey while Joey was being prepped for surgery, which would take place in mere moments. "Does it seem to be working?"
Abbey nodded. "Slowly, but surely," she answered, eyes on the second regenerator. "As always. How's Corwin?"
"Being prepped for surgery. Her shoulder is shot. A bit of collateral damage you could call it," Lucas replied.
Abbey winced and hissed, almost feeling the pain. "Now I know why I picked medicine instead of security," she said. "Although, granted, Doctor Kij is laying just in that room with a concussion, so I suppose medical isn't much safer, really. She's doing all right, by the way. Nurse Lane said she woke up and answered a few questions, but she's still really tired."
"In times of battle, no one is safe, regardless of what department they serve in," the surgeon pointed out as he looked over the two patients she was currently treating. Yes, it was a fairly slow process, but given their injuries, it would work out. "I'm glad Doctor Kij woke up. As soon as I have a free second, I'm going to go look in on her myself." He looked to the Security officers that were still present. "When these two are finished and able to move, they're to be released into the custody of these officers."
Abbey nodded. "Okay," she said, glancing at the security officers. "I'll get them patched up all right, don't you worry." She made another tweek to one of the regenerators and watched the readout.
The three officers that were overseeing the two patients said nothing, but remained standing in their positions with their phasers ready. They weren't out of their holsters yet, but would be within a split second if they were needed. After all, the Major and his Chimera comrade where to be prisoners the second they were on their feet, and would undergo questioning the moment the Captain was ready for it.
Lucas looked toward Abbey. "I'll check in with you once I'm done with Lieutenant Corwin. Just as soon as I have a free second, I'll go see Doctor Kij." He offered Abbey a smile and excused himself. He wasn't sure how many times he'd made this journey into surgery today, but he hoped it would be a long time before he had to make it again.
"All right," Abbey answered, keeping her eyes on the regenerators. "Don't be too hard on her, okay?"
"I have surgery to do before I see her, but I have no intentions of being hard on her," he said. "I'll see you shortly." With that, Abrams walked away.
An hour later, Abbey was satisfied that the nerve damage- or at least the vast majority of it- had been repaired. Any small amount that remained would surely heal on its own, or they could reevaluate in a day or so. Pain killers would take care of any residual discomfort. With a sigh, she pulled out her tricorder again and did a quick scan. Satisfied at the readout on both officers, she set up the bio regeneration fields to repair their burst ear drums. This wouldn't take anywhere near as long as the nerve damage. It would be a only few minutes to fix this problem. They would regain partial hearing instantly, and the rest would return within a few days.
One of the armed Security officers stepped forward. "We'll be taking the Major with us, Doctor," he said, putting restraints on the man that was still unconscious. "If you could wake him up now, we will be on our way."
"Hold on," said Abbey in that authoritative voice that only doctors seemed to have. She gave the regeneration field another moment, then checked her tricorder. "Okay," she said, satisfied. She gave him a pain killer first, then a nueral stimulant. She held more pain killer and a tranquilizer at the ready, just in case. She would not have someone going mad in Sick Bay, possibly putting lives at risk.
The two security officers moved into position. Once the medications had been administered, they pulled the Major to a sitting position and waited for him to gather his bearings slightly. When they were able, they helped him to his feet and escorted him out of sickbay to be taken directly to the brig.
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