High Falling (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 08 May 2012 @ 10:33am by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Edited on on 08 May 2012 @ 5:25pm

3,166 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 4 - Sickbay
Timeline: MD03 - 1400 hrs

[ON - Continued...]

Walking back around, Pola stopped short at the sight which she was faced with."Lilou....what the heck!" Realising what she'd just seen she went so apologise but then spotted, the sight of bruises covering the woman's body would give anyone a shock. "Lilou....what on earth have you done?"

Lilou looked at the doctor curiously. Not an entirely unexpected reaction, though to be fair, the doctor had asked. And Lilou had told her she was bruised. Still, she guessed some people got upset by things easily; she certainly did about strange things: talking and being talked about and not doing the work she thought she should and a whole host of other things that most people seemed to find were no big deal. So why shouldn't this... Lilou realized she didn't even know the woman's name. Anyway. This doctor who seemed competent enough. Why shouldn't she have the right to get flummoxed by a few bruises? "Ah... I told you," she said it slowly, just to make sure the doctor didn't get lost again. "I fought the Borg and then I fell off a loc- out of an access shaft."

Pola moved her hand across her hair again in an almost angry gesture. She was keyly angry at herself for not doing an in depth enough examination to find the rest of the damage, after seeing Lilou's head and the careless attitude, the Doctor felt she shouldn't have taken Lilou at her word and taken the phrase, better to be safe then sorry litterally. She was also partly frustrated at Lilou. How could the woman have so much damage but yet be so carefree. Walking briskly oilut of the curtained area, Pola went to grab a portable sensor cluster. "Lilou lie down on the bio bed." The Doctor's English accent became strong through the frustration and anger she was feeling.

Lilou's brow furrowed as the doctor strode angrily out of the curtained area, calling her orders back. Suddenly the privacy of the consultation was gone. She felt exposed, harrowed, and... all of a sudden very unwell. Indifference - she was used to. Detachment - accepted. Outright anger on the part of someone who, in her experience, either treated or ignored her was dangerous. Her muscles clenched on reflex, and where the bruises made that tension hurt, she focused. The pain kept her alert; it kept her centered so that whatever the now potential danger threw at her was something she could deal with. Fight or flight; no matter how much she practiced in the holodeck, she knew that her first reaction in this scenario with a fellow crew member would always be fleeing. This was why she'd trained herself to find the ratways through the ship. There were four separate exits from the sickbay, ignoring the obvious route. She could be gone in a matter of seconds. She pressed up to the wall-end of the bio bed, clenching the head for a solid source of momentum should she need it to run.

Walking back into the closed curtained area with the sensor cluster, Pola took one look at Lilou and places her hands on her hips. "Lie down Lilou. I can't do a complete scan of your body, ensuring nothing is missed, in the stance you are in right now." The Doctor reconised that something in the young woman had changed but right now her concern was ensuring nothing further had been over looked so as the correct repairs could be carried out.

Lilou gritted her teeth, caught between the need to protect herself in her far too vulnerable position and the need to obey an order by an officer who outranked her. She forced her hands down from the headboard, stretching herself out flat and still on the bed, and began listing the digits of pi methodically in her head. She'd be damned if she was going to show a sign of weakness. Not right now. Not here. Not with Rothgra just through the curtain and across the way. She had to be strong for him, if nothing else.

Taking note of Lilou's completely ridged body, Pola raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. Something was wrong with the woman and the Doctor suspected it seemed to relate back to when when she found out about the true extend of the woman's injuries. Moving the sensor cluster to above Lilou's head, Pola programmed it for a full body scan and stepped back to enable it to do it's job. "Lilou...I apologise if I'm coming across as angry. You do understand that this is not at you? I'm angry at myself for not being more tougher with your medical that I didn't pick up on al of this damage. The only feeling I have towards you right now is concern and frustration. Frustration that you didn't come in sooner and concern as to the extent of the damage to your body."

Watching as the scan completed, Pola pulled away the scanner and left it to the side. Sitting on the edge of the bio bed so she could look at Lilou, the Doctor again ran her hand over her hair. "Do you understand that even though you may have been functioning fine, as if there was no issues, this doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. More then likely you've been running on adrenaline which would mask to you how badly hurt you are."

Lilou blinked a few times, trying to focus on the numbers in her head and the effort of keeping her eyes dry and face still. There was no reason for the doctor to be explaining herself; she was Lilou's superior officer and, as such, had a right to do and say whatever she pleased. The fact that Pola might have been genuinely concerned about her never entered Lilou's mind. As her brain sorted through what had happened and ought a conclusion, she began to feel sick at her stomach. Of course, she thought. Of course she deserved anger. How had she been so stupid? By trying to lessen her imposition on the staff in the present, she had endangered the well-being of the ship in the long term. Not that the engineering department couldn't get on without her - of course they could. Easily. They were some of the best engineers and specialists she'd ever had the pleasure to work with. But one less pair of hands meant slower progress and a few seconds time could be the difference between solution and disaster. If she'd been out of commission... that would have been her fault. Her through felt clogged and she blinked again, breathing deep in her gut to keep the emotion from rising too close to the surface. "I apologize, sir, for my inattention. It won't happen again."

"First and foremost Lilou it's Pola. I'm your Doctor, here to look after you, I prefer not to stand on formalities." Smiling at the young woman, Pola picked up a nearby tricorder which showed a readout of the woman's hormones when she first entered into the sickbay. Handing the woman the tricorder, the Doctor leaned over to point out a few of the readings."Ok...I'm going to assume for a moment that you don't know what adrenalin is or it's effects so I will explain it all to you if you don't mind, just so as you understand what's happening."

Moving slightly closer, Pola still ensured that she didn't encroach on Lilou's personal space."When you took the fall, your bodies natural instinct was fear and as a result it released a surge of two hormones called adrenalin and cortisol." Pointing out the readings relevant to this on the tricorder, Pola gave Lilou a few moments to take in the information. "Because of the height of your fall, your body released too much of these two hormones which resulted in your body going into overdrive. Cortisol increases your blood sugar levels so can result in an almost hyper feeling. Adrenaline is kinda the fear hormone. If your body is scared it realises this hormone to boost your bodies response to want to....run for want of a better word. It can be bad though, as too much adrenaline can result in panic attacks."

Sitting back, Pola placed her hands either side of her the bed, leaving the tricorder with Lilou."All of this combines on the fact that your body is focused on fear, on danger, and it ignores relevant information such as pain from injuries you may have sustained. Is this making sense to you? I want you to understand what is happening to you so your not scared. I find knowledge is better then not understanding."

She hadn't been scared before, Lilou thought, keeping her eyes on the tricorder. She'd felt... better than she had in years. Happier. More free. Until... well, really, until the crack in her head had been fixed. The good feelings had been seeping away since that moment and then torn from her only moments ago. Maybe she was better with a cracked head. What a sad state of affairs that was. She always wanted to run, except for the time where she'd been walking around with a release of the hormones that were supposed to make her feel that way. What on earth did that mean? She wasn't about to ask. "I understand, si-" she snapped her mouth shut before she could say 'sir' again.

Bringing up the scans of Lilou's torso, Pola suppressed herself from crying out in shock again. Thankfully a majority of the bruising wasn't deep enough to have caused any sever damage, similar to Lilou's abdomen, the bruising would be easily fixed with a dermal regenerator, the ribs was showing bruising also. It was the left hip which was causing some concern. The spine of the ishium was showing a fracture where most of the woman's weight seemed to fallen when she landed. The head of the femur was showing slight signs of dislodgement which would settle back in over a short period of time, it wasn't anything of any concern. The site around the fractured hip bone was showing signs of internal bleeding which would need to be rectified immediately.

Taking a breath, Pola turned towards Lilou, bringing the monitor with her. "Ok Lilou. The good news is the a majority of your bruising is easily fixed like the bruising on your abdomen, simple case of giving it a run over with a dermal regenerator. The biggest issue is your hip." Pointing out the area on the monitor, the Doctor attempted to explain to Lilou the issue. "You've damaged one of the bones in your left hip from the impact of the fall. This damage has caused internal bleeding which I need to rectify immediately before it starts to cause issues. The area is so badly bruised, and I suspect tender, because of the build up of the blood. For me to fix both of these I need to be minor surgery. I'll need to make a small incision above the bone, drain the blood, repair the bone and repair the bleed. There will be no scars left after and it's a minor surgery so I can let you out of here within 3-4hours."

Three to four hours? Lilou swallowed. "Can... maybe I can come back after my shift?"

"Lilou it can't wait. If the internal bleeding continues, a blood clot could form. If that blood clot loosens it could cause you irreversible damage or worse case senerio, death. I'm really not trying to frighten you, but this is the truth." Pola really was not comfortable at all to let Lilou walk out of here. "What time is your shift finished?"

"O-hundred hours," she answered then frowned nervously. "But I can come back around eighteen hundred. Things slow down then," Lilou added, hoping the doctor would reconsider. How was she supposed to explain four hours absence from the middle of her shift?

Shaking her head more vigorously, Pola knew she wouldn't let Lilou walk out without treatment. "I'll make you a deal, you let me fix the hip and bleeding now, it will take me 10mins, you stay with me another 10minutes to make sure it was successful. I will then release you back to duty on the condition you come back here at 1800hours so as I can fix up the rest of the injuries."

Knowing the head had already been fixed, the rest of the bruising was not critical, it was only sheer discomfort for Lilou which required it to be fixed. "When I release you back to duty, I'll attach a neurocortical monitor to you while will feed back your stats to us here in sickbay, meaning if anything happens we are alerted to it immediately. One further condition i would attach is you stay away from any areas which would prevent us getting a transporter lock should something happen."

"Yes, sir-" she winced. "Yes, Pola."

"Ok well we'd better get this started and get you out of here." Pola stood up and went to the nearest replicator in order to prepare 10cc's of tetracaine, a local anastetic which would enable her to operate in the hip without discomfort for Lilou. The dermal and osteo generators would be usable on the bone and bleed which were non-invasive and wouldn't aggregate the pain there currently. On her way back, the Doctor also grabbed an exoscalpel and the dermal and osteo generators. "Do you have any questions you'd like to ask me?"

Lilou shook her head, closing her eyes, and took a deep breath. She'd feel better when she could get back to work and out of here.

Turning Lilou gently on her right side, Pola applied the solution to her side, waiting a moment or two for the numbness to set in. Once satisfied, she took the exoscapel, to make a small incision through the flesh and muscle so as to be able to reach the bone. Putting aside the scapel, Pola first used the dermal regenerator in order to stop the bleeding once draining the build up of blood. Checking the wound area, the Doctor let out a sigh of relief as she found no evidence of clotting. Grabbing the osteo regenerator, Pola started repairing the fracture along the spine of the ishium. Once satisfied it had been treated, the Doctor rescanned the area with her tricorder, ensuring the bleeding had completely stopped and the bone was healed. Satisfied, she then used a autosuture to close back up the wound. Due to the straightforwardness of the muscle and flesh repair, the autosuture was able to carry out it's work quickly before the Doctor was then able to run the dermal regenerator across the top so as to ensure no scarring.

Pushing her chair back, Pola moved her goggles to the top of her head and smiled at Lilou. "Give yourself a moment or two. You'll still have localised numbness in that area for 1-2hours so be careful not to bump it against anything."

"Yes, sir," Lilou said quietly.

Moving her chair around so she would be at the same level as Lilou's head, Pola put her hand gently against the young woman's arm. "You ok hun?"

Lilou nodded. "Can I sit up?" she asked. She hadn't felt anything but a little pressure, but quick glances down the slope of her own body had allowed her to see what was happening. It hadn't been pretty, but it had been impressive.

Taking Lilou's hand, Pola helped her sit up slowly, "How does it feel?"

She stretched her torso, bending slightly to each side. "Fine, sir. Thank you, sir." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I'd... like to get back to work now, please."

Keeping a hold on Lilou's hand, Pola shook her head. "I need to you give me another few minutes so I can be certain the bleeding has stopped. While we wait...why don't you tell me why your reverting back to calling me Sir."

Lilou bit the inside of her cheek, keeping her eyes down. "Habit. I'm sorry."

Watching the woman keep her eyes down, Pola squeezed her hand gently."What's wrong Lilou? The damage is fixed...the rest of your injuries will be fixed a few hours and you'll be back fighting fit to take on more borg."

The woman's hands on her arm, her hand, made the muscles in Lilou's throat quiver. "I was just trying to be better. That was all."

Pulling her chair closer, Pola softened her voice, hearing a quiver in the words the young woman was speaking. "What were you trying to be better at?"

"I wasn't trying to cause a problem. I fell. And I wasn't... it's a training simulation. I was trying to be better. Not... not..." She swallowed hard. "Can I please go back to work?"

Holding onto Lilou, Pola started to realise she was concerned about the girl. "Lilou, you didn't cause a problem. Your fixed now, and will be 100% in a few hours, maybe even with new kness. It's my job to heal people, giving me work to do can be a good thing, it means my hands wont be idle."

Lilou kept her eyes down. It didn't really matter what the doctor said. Pola. Fine. It was job to heal people. Obviously. Lilou knew that; she wasn't an idiot. That was why she'd shown and gone through the whole thing, been honest - because she'd known that regardless of what happened, the doctor would do her job. That was what Starfleet officers did. Whatever else, they acted on their instincts and their instincts had been honed and trained by the academy to be in line with their positions. One of the reasons Lilou had always had a measure of respect for doctors was because they were fixers, like her. They saw problems and began thinking of solutions. That wasn't up for debate in her mind. But she knew better than to believe the lie that she hadn't caused a problem. She had. She'd heard that much in the lieutenant's voice. And it wasn't Lilou's place to point that out or complain. She certainly wasn't going to accuse a superior officer of being less than truthful. "Yes, ma'am," she said, forcing a small smile. "I feel fine. I'd like to go work. I'll be back at eighteen hundred."

Uncertain, Pola wasn't certain if she should keep trying to push the young woman. Squeezing her hand once more, the Doctor rolled her chair back. "Off you go, as I said before please be careful of that hip untilthe numbness disappears and I expect you back at 1800hours or I send out a search party." Pola smiled softly at Lilou.

--
[OFF]

MWO Lilou Peers
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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