Waiting For Godot

Posted on 07 Jul 2012 @ 8:05pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant JG Brayden White Ph.D. & Chief Petty Officer Eda & Petty Officer 3rd Class Betohta Izred (KIA) & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Crewman Vera Lin (KIA)
Edited on on 07 Jul 2012 @ 8:08pm

2,687 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD07 - 2008 hours

Previously in "Compromised"...

As the lighting around her went red, Pola quickly walked into main sickbay to round up her staff. The only big benefit of having a red alert sound at this hour was that she was already in sickbay, half way through her shift. Looking around, her eyes first checked Dru, wanting to make sure the woman was secure if things should turn bad, in the back of her head she was trying to make contingency plans should the woman need to be moved should the biobed be needed in an emergency. Her thought's flashed back to her first red alert on-board the USS Galileo, she had only been ACMO then, now that she was CMO she had more responsibilities. Turning on her heel she headed for where her team was huddled together, whispering amongst each other.

Delainey entered sickbay, her designated emergency station, and took up position beside Pola, offering reassuring nods and some warm smiles to the junior medical staff that looked her way. She trusted Pola had everyone and everything prepped and ready for whatever was happening. She just prayed it wouldn't be necessary.

Andreus Kohl strode into Sickbay's main ICU ward from the medical lab to see most of the medical staff gathering, even the counsellors. Moving as unobtrusively as possible, Kohl sidled in with the junior officers.

In a crimson lit corridor, Scarlet Blake rounded a corner with a firm stride, her body straight and coiled with some tension, enough to be prepared for attack under the red alert. It was an automatic reaction that the counsellor couldn't shake. She headed swiftly into Sickbay where her basic field medic training could be put into use under a red alert situation, but she had to admit that even now it still felt strange. When the sirens sounded and there was a call to arms, she still felt the urge to grab a rifle and get ready to head out into the fire fight when needed. She contented herself with taking a spot up by a biobed, her long dark hair tied firmly back and her uniform sleeves rolled up as she looked over the equipment laid out ready.

And now, the continuation...


[ON]

Brayden hurried into sickbay along with every other blue-uniformed crew member. He was well prepared for any emergency medical situation; it was part of his original program of study after all and he'd gotten plenty of practice over the years, but the idea of standing in sickbay and waiting for the patients to come to them seemed strange to him. He wanted to be where the action was. The problem was, it didn't seem like anyone knew where that would be. So he stuck, helping to prepare the Sickbay for triage.

"I don't understand," Andreus Kohl said. The fair-featured Argelian angled his head towards a fellow nurse, Vera Lin, because the statement was meant for her ears only. Despite that, he didn't manage to lower his voice enough to prevent the rest of the medical staff from hearing him. "We're orbiting a starbase. How bad can it be?"

"I don't know," Scarlet said lightly, her body still tense and held in a military style posture. She shook her head, tutting softly with a half smile. "You'd be surprised. I know people who could get themselves into trouble getting into their own uniform."

Delainey winced. "In my experience, a question like that is usually followed by a stampede of patients. I'm not sure we want to tempt fate."

"The priestesses in my home town," Kohl said, "would tell us that anyone can reverse tempted fate as long as you kiss wood." Looking around at Sickbay as if it were brand new again, Kohl remarked disappointedly, "But all the furniture in here is made from metals and plastic..."

As her people and the counselling department talked around her, Pola took a moment to take it all in before placing her fingers against her lips, letting out a shrill whistle to get everyone's attention. It was getting to be a tight squeeze in the tiny room so she needed to get people to start moving. "Right guys. We can stand around an speculate or we can start getting things moving. At the end of the day we are in a red alert situation. Do you all know what you are doing?" Looking at each and every person, she allowed them opportunity to speak up.

Andreus Kohl straightened his posture and rolled his shoulders back. Before he responded, he set his jaw tightly, silently recognising that his mouth had run ahead of him again. Kohl cleared his throat, and then he said, "The nurses first priority will be to treat patients in the immediate and delayed categories of triage. I will be treating non-surgical patients and the others will be supporting the doctors with surgical patients. Our secondary priority is to facilitate the triage categorizing of incoming patients."

When Kohl didn't speak to the worst case scenarios, Nurse Vera Lin chimed in with, "Tertiary priority is to expectant and minimal patient care." She put the most emphasis on speaking to patient care. Those two words summed up her role, in her mind.

"I studied emergency medicine in med school, so I can rove among any patients we receive treating injuries as needed. My surgical skills are pretty basic, but if any babies need delivering, I'm your gal," Delainey added with a grin. She loved her OB rotation in fact, and would have pursued it, but she figured emergency medicine was more practical. Of course, she wasn't aware of any pregnant crewmembers and knew the chances of delivering a baby were zero, but she was trying to lighten the tension. Anticipating droves of wounded crewmembers pouring through sickbay when she was just starting to get to know everyone made for a heavy heart.

"My training was more in the way of being a field medic," Scarlet said lightly, shaking her head with a slight frown. "But I can deal with a lot of injuries myself, or patch up a serious injury while a patient is waiting to be treated fully."

"I can hold down triage in here or you can ship me out. Trained as a field medic, so I can handle that if it comes to it," Brayden told Pola with a decisive nod. "Whatever you need."

Having already been summoned forth from within the computer memory, the EMH was surprised to have been activated so soon after his last conversation with the medical staff, and after taking a moment for his visual subroutines to take account of the myriad of red alert lights, the holographic doctor was acutely aware of what had happened.

"As the EMH it will be my job to assist in triage and medical treatment in the event of resource requirement overtaxing the allocated medical staff. Don't worry however, I am programmed with over six million surgical procedures and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Federation medicine."

Nodding her head, Pola smiled at each person. It was evident to her that she couldn't ask for a more competent set of people. "Ok, I'm going to need at least two teams who will roam each deck in the event something happens. Your job will be to treat any injured you find on your way, arrange for those more seriously injured to to transferred here to sickbay. The emergency transport should be available in extreme cases. You will need to ensure that you keep in consistent contact with us back here."

Looking down at the list of names in her hand, she pinpointed the four people for this. "White and Carlisle, can you take decks 1-4, Eda and Izred can you take 5-8? Blake, you're staying here in main sickbay, but I want you on standby for deck 7, main engineering, in case backup is needed there. Lin, Kohl and..um....EMH you three will also remain here with myself where we will treat the patients as required. Kohl, yourself and Lin will help categorise the patients as they come in. I also want you to work on treating our non-surgical patients, freeing up myself and the EMH to perform surgery as required. Blake do you mind also giving them a hand?"

Scarlet shook her head lightly, offering the doctor a small smile. "Not at all, Doctor. Sounds like a plan."

Nodding her head, Pola looked back around, "Perfect, does anyone have any further queries? Until such a time as we need to dispatch the teams and start treating, can I get everyone helping get hyposprays filling with medication we will require, and ensure we have sufficient equipment at hand straight away?"

Brayden tapped his forehead in a tiny version of a salute and grabbed a field kit, passing a second one to Carlisle, and then began checking the fill lines on the hypospray units and refilling those that were low.

Kohl turned to check on the blood stores, but he spun the rest of the way around to make eye-contact with Pola again. He asked, "Doctor, can we expect any support from the starbase medical staff?"

Picking up a PADD, Pola went through the information pertaining to the red alert status and the anticipated next move of the ship. "I'm afraid that that may not be possible. Despite this red alert, we are due to depart from the station and so we can't risk taking Starbase personnel we maybe be unable to return. Also it is safe to assume that the Starbase is also at a red alert status, thus meaning they will require their medical staff due to the sheer volume of people present there."

"Understood, doctor," said Kohl; "Thank you." He nodded twice before heading off to confirm what blood they had in storage.

Remaining in Sickbay was nothing short of how the EMH's algorithms expected his program to be treated -after all, he would be unable to act as an effective physician if he was out gallivanting in the hallways with a medkit. Nodding to the CMO, he began computing the most likely medical complaints to develop from ship-to-ship combat, as well as accessing the Federation database for the most likely injuries caused by Klingon bladed weapons for hand-to-hand combat.

"Of course, I will remain here as required. I'm a doctor, not a ranger."

The voice of the Executive Officer, Jonathan Holliday, interjected over the communications system: "All stations - status report." Other members of the senior staff responded first, their voices coming across through the comms.

Looking around at her staff, and the gathered counselling staff, Pola hit the commbadge on her chest, ready to report in their status as prompted. She was proud of her people and happy to see the counselling staff so willing to help out in a time of emergency, between them all they would be prepared for anything.

=^=Sickbay to the Bridge; I can confirm we are ready down here and good to go if and when needed=^=

Holliday said: =^=Understood Doc - no offence but I hope we won't need to call upon your services. Stand by. =^=

Kohl dragged his fingers across an LCARS console set into the bulkhead. He scrolled through the inventory of blood in storage, categorized by blood groups and blood types. "Any chance this red alert is just a precaution? That our services actually won't be needed?" Kohl wondered aloud. "Maybe we'll be sitting here playing cards in fifteen minutes..."

"I could go for a good game of Texas Hold 'Em," Brayden asserted as he finished filling the hyposprays and triple checked the rest of his kit. "Twenty minute holodeck time buy-in. Anyone?"

Crossing Sickbay to reach up for a cabinet beside Brayden, Vera Lin said, "That sounds more emotionally healthy than sitting here imagining... visualizing the horrors we might see." She pumped a medicinal cartridge into a hypospray, confirmed the label on the small digital screen, and stored it in the appropriate slot inside the open cabinet.

The EMH, unsurprisingly didn't find the conversation in the least bit amusing, having been programmed as a doctor and not as a concierge. Raising one eyebrow in disapproval towards Brayden, he turned his back with an audible 'hmph" before picking up a tricorder and checking its calibration records.

Standing to the side, Pola found herself uncertain what to do. She could overhear the conversation happening but was uncertain how to handle it. On one hand she understood people needed different ways to ease the tension they felt at a red alert status but on the other hand she realised as CMO and as a senior officer it was her job to bring them into line. Rubbing a hand across her forehead, she realised that there was no harm in it at the moment.

Her people didn't know about Sienna, or the threat surrounding the project, it was better that way. Sighing, she fixed a smile to her face and stepped over to give them all a hand, "How about winner gets dinner with the boss? I'm a pretty good catch you know."

"And the stakes are up, ladies and gentlemen," Brayden murmured, with a wink for Pola, as he finished prepping his kit and slung it over his shoulder. "Who's in? Since it seems the Boss is offering herself as the pot and not a player." He grinned. "Scared of a little honest competition."

Metaphorically, Kohl pulled the pin on a social-grenade, and he lobbed into the middle of Sickbay. He turned away from the LCARS display to ask Pola wryly, "Only dinner? Is that really the best reward you can offer?"

Letting out a low whistle, Pola cocked her hip onto a biobed and looked back at her staff, "Sheesh....and what, pray tell, else would you be looking to have offered?"

"Be creative," Kohl declared.

"She dances," Brayden mentioned, with an innocent grin.

"And you as my Doctor know I don't dance right now." Pola elbowed Brayden who she'd ended up beside. "But just to be a good sport ok. Winner gets dinner with the Boss and an IOU for a lesson in some Latin dancing. How does that sound?" Pola had to wonder if she'd have been sacked by now if Jonathan was here, she could just imagine the look on his face, fraternising with the staff to this extent.

"Okay, now I'm in," Kohl said with some enthusiasm, and he clapped his hands together. "I don't know how they dance on the planet Latin, but it must be hot if you need lessons to do it right."

Laughing, Pola just shook her head, "Don't make me regret this people. I have the power to put you on double shifts and the responsibly of cleaning bed pans don't forget."

Brayden grinned at her sideways. "Two in, anyone else. Vera Lin? Fancy a dancing lesson? Scarlet? Dame Carlisle?"

"Ohhh, I'm in," said Vera.

Scarlet watched with a half smile, humour shining in her eyes. She'd been playing poker since she was a kid. And watched the hustlers at it too. Not that's she'd be any less than honest of course. She cleared her throat, moving to them with a chuckle. "Okay, deal me in."

"Excellent, excellent," Brayden beamed at her.

Delainey grinned. "I don't have a clue how to play poker, but I'm told I have an excellent poker face."

With a wicked grin, Kohl taunted, "You're gonna need it."

[OFF]


To be continued in "In Pursuit"


--

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

Ensign Scarlet Blake
Counselor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Brayden White Ph.D. (played by Kestra Orexil)
Counselor
USS Galileo

EMH Mark-X (played by Jonathan Holliday)
Emergency Medical Hologram
USS Galileo

Crewman Vera Lin (played by Andreus Kohl)
Nurse
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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