You Say Life Is a Battlefield and You Say I Have to Fight - Part Two

Posted on 26 Jul 2012 @ 4:01am by Captain Jonathan Holliday & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl & Crewman Vera Lin (KIA) & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn
Edited on on 30 Jul 2012 @ 9:14am

2,871 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD07 - 2245hrs

[ON]

As she looked around her, Pola ran her hands over her hair as she tried to figure out if she'd forgotten anything. Running her hand down to her hip, she double checked to ensure the phaser which Kohl had grabbed for her was still secured, knowing full well that she would need to use it. Security had been unable to get an officer to them on time, they'd been blocked off before they reached sickbay. This now meant that sickbay's only means of defence was two phasers and whatever weapons could be created from medical equipment and supplies. They had man power in the EMH, Lin and the patients who were still able to walk on two feet and able to use at least one arm, she had to hope that it would all be enough.

Now it was time to forget she was a Doctor and remember she was an officer. She had a duty to protect these people, especially the defenceless and protect them is what she would do. Her conversation with Lin and the EMH still didn't sit well with her but this was her training. Yes she was a Doctor but as a Doctor she had to ensure her patients and her people where protected and could protect themselves.

Kohl padded to Pola's side, and he took a look at Sickbay from Pola's perspective. It looked so much bigger, so much more complicated from there. "We could cannibalize the alpha-wave inducers from the surgical support frames?" Kohl wondered aloud. He said it softly enough, for Pola's ears only, in case it wouldn't work. "Set the frequency to anesthetize Klingons into a deep sleep?"

Rubbing her hand over her eyes, Pola tried to analyse the situation and the implications of Kohl's idea, "I don't think it could work. Say we have 8-10 Klingons converge on us, the sheer volume and force of frequency waves required would be too much for us to be able to emit it. Also we've too many people who would also be put to sleep due to their physiologic similarities to Klingons . The patients are already hindered by their injuries, put them to sleep and they can't defend themselves or help us and do become sitting ducks."

Placing a hand on Kohl's shoulder, Pola squeezed it softly, "You're doing a good job Andreus, coming up with good ideas so please keep speaking up."

"Thank you, doctor," Kohl said, smiling weakly. He started to tear off the surgical gown he was wearing over his uniform. "So are you."

From where he was sitting on his biobed, he spied a laser scalpel on a bedside table, not far from where he sat. He reached across the bed, and used his...good arm...to brace himself. He then extended as far as he could and gripped the scalpel with his teeth. Then Quinn slid off the biobed and crawled underneath. As he was doing so, he managed to grab the hypospray that was left next to where he was lying. He assumed it had to be a sedative, and would use it if he was given the chance. The scalpel would be last line. He felt another wave of dizziness hit him.

It did not take long before the sound of disruptor fire and running boots could be heard making their way along the corridor. In an unfamiliar ship, the Klingons had taken to searching each and every room that they had come across in search of the resources they were seeking. Eventually, orders could be heard being barked in Klingon as the sound of weapons fire began pounding on the outside of the sickbay doors. The forcefield would hold for a little while, but not for long.

Looking around, Pola tried to see if there was anything further they could do. Watching her people she saw them trying to reassure the scared, while distributing means for them to protect themselves. When it came down to it, she'd give her life protecting them and their patients and she'd do it without a second thought. Becoming CMO so quickly had forced her to grow up faster, to call on all her training as a Doctor and officer sooner than she'd ever anticipated. Thinking it over she realised she'd still too much to learn and live for and she'd be damned if today was going to be the day that she died.

"Ok...I need everyone in place so we can get the forcefields up. EMH have you the solution created and ready to be released?"

"Gas dispersal has been set to two hundred parts per million - enough to lull even the rowdiest Klingon into a state of unconsciousness for a few hours at the very least." The hologram replied, a smug look on his face as he checked that his plan was indeed going to happen as expected.

Approaching the bulkhead that was flush with the entrance to Sickbay, Kohl positioned his body with a cabinet between himself and the doorway. Breathe in, breathe out, Kohl reminded himself to keep from hyperventilating. He crouched down to use the side of the cabinet for cover. Breathe in, breathe out, he reminded himself to keep from hyperventilating. Once his footing was steady, Kohl reached under the lower hem of his uniform jacket and clasped the type-1 phaser on his belt. Breathe in, breathe out, he reminded himself to keep from hyperventilating. He toggled the controls to set it to level five -- heavy stun with thermal effects to burn through armour.

Crouching down at Kohl's side, Pola placed a hand on his shoulder while they waited for the shields to be activated. She was still worried about the Nurse, he seemed to have had a moment earlier in which he almost seemed to freak out. Being the only other person with a phaser, she really needed him. "Are you ok?"

Kohl's brow furrowed with consternation and he answered the question honestly. "Nuh-- No, I'm not okay," Kohl said his voice hoarse. As he shook his head, Kohl's uttering of 'okay' fell apart into a sickened laugh at the absurdity of the question. "I was suffering from acute stress reaction when you met me. And that was before you told me there were Klingons, our allies the Klingons, coming to kill us for no reason. I'm not okay. Every time I point my phaser at another being, I feel like I want to die." --He grit his teeth, and the desperation behind his eyes turned to ice.-- "But I'm still going to shoot them all."

Kohl almost couldn't hear the pounding on the door to Sickbay for the sound of his own blood pumping through his head.

Tightening her hold on his shoulder, she nodded her head gently. "It's never going to be easy to point a weapon at a person and press that trigger, all you have to do is to remember the reason why you're doing it. Look around you." The Doctor took a step back as she indicated the staff and patients and Kohl himself. "Your job as nurse is to help and protect. By holding that weapon and shooting that's what you're doing."

"Oh no, no, I can't do this as a nurse," Kohl said, shaking his head again. He couldn't look at Pola anymore; he looked at the phaser in his hand, and he pointed that phaser at the doorway. "If I think like a nurse, I'll forget myself and go running to treat the patients in your office. No, I'm an ensign in Starfleet today. I don't have a choice. I'm doing my duty. That's what I have to tell myself. This phaser is my only duty."

Quinn looked out from hiding place, under the biobed and then to the force field, then to Pola. He started laughing. "Why in the hell didn't I think of this before....and what the hell did you give me? Laughing gas? Shit, focus..."He commanded himself as the laughter continued. =^=Computer, increase artificial gravity in Corridor D-Three-Main, directly in front of Sick-bay, from Standard-One-G, to Nine-G's for approximately twelve seconds. The cease all artificial gravity in ordered area until further commanded. Authorization Quinn-Tango-Tango-Sierra. Chief Engineer.=^=

Of course the duranium doors to Sickbay were never designed to withstand weapons fire of any sort, let alone the strength of half a dozen Klingons with disruptors and brute force on their side. It only took a few moments for the first bat'leth blade to appear in the split between the two door halves, and slowly begin to prise them apart, as Klingon forces began to make their way into the previously-sealed room.

Of course their plan didn't quite go as smoothly as they had originally thought as the gravity under their feet shifted, first pulling them to their knees as the levels increased, and then freeing them from almost any care in the world as it shut down, allowing the bulky warriors to float freely.

A few shouts of Klingon expletives and questioning remarks could be heard as they steadied themselves to float through the doorway, and be caught by the Sickbay gravity field - although that was going to take a few seconds longer than expected...

Watching as the Klingons became weightless before crashing down, Pola looked around sickbay, watching as the personal forcefields started to activate around each of the groups of patients and staff. The only two left were herself and Kohl. Her hand still rested on his shoulder as she squeezed it gently before letting go. Looking across at the EMH, she waited for him to give the word on the gas being released just as a shimmer appeared and herself and her nurse were encased in their forcefield.

With his type-one phaser aimed at the open doorway, Kohl lightly tapped the trigger. A nadion particle beam lanced from the phaser towards a Klingon floating in the passageway. Before Kohl could touch the trigger again, he was encased within the forcefield beside Pola. Kohl's head snapped towards Pola, asking "What just happ--" but he was interrupted by the Klingons shattering the status unit with a hail of disruptor blasts.

As the Klingons made their way into the room, there was a sudden moment of silence as the invaders were not entirely sure how to tackle this situation. Having originally planned to make their way in to be met by armed resistance, they were in fact met by nothing more than a rather dower looking doctor, with the rest cowering like defenceless children behind barricades.

"Gentlemen - welcome to Sickbay. As the Emergency Medical Hologram for this vessel, let me be the first to welcome you to your new sleeping area. If you'll just bear with me a moment."

Raising a finger as if to shush the Klingons before they could even speak, the EMH tapped on a single control in front of him, and listened as the sound of anaesthetic gas began to make its way into the room - the smoky white vapour spreading through the entire of Sickbay - except of course for those sections luckily protected by forcefields.

The Klingons of course were none the wiser, and simply looked around as they continued to try and figure out how exactly they were going to fight this opponent. Of course they didn't get that chance, as the tissues of their bodies began to saturate with the gas, quickly lulling the once-aggressive warriors into a state of complete stupor, before sleep overcame them, and they dropped to the floor in a heartbeat.

"Well....that went....well." The EMH grinned as he quickly vented the gas from the room and dropped the forcefield that had previously been sheltering their CMO from the wrath of the now-sleeping Klingons.

"Although I would recommend we take those disruptors off them before they wake up....if they're still here for some reason?"

Climbing back to her feet, Pola hit the safety on her phaser, not wanting to take any chances on it accidentally going off but still wanting to keep it in her hand. "Kohl, check on everyone for me, the rest of the shields are to be kept active in case, just check that everyone is doing ok."

Still breathing heavily and excited by neurotransmitters surging through his body, Kohl nodded at Pola's order. Rising to his feet, he stared warily at the Klingons on the floor all the while. "Understood, Doctor," he said, but his tone betrayed how little he understood what was going on. Like Pola, he felt better once he returned the phaser to his belt, and took up the medical tricorder from its holster on his hip. He strode away from the ICU to examine the critical care patients in Pola's office.

Talking over to the unconscious Klingons, Pola found herself suppressing a smile as she heard a snore emit from one of them. Untangling the disruptors and blades from their grips, she threw them behind her, into the centre of sickbay. "EMH, have we anyway we can bind or restrain them should they start to come around?"

"I'm sure I can find some-"

Before the EMH could finish his sentence, the sleeping Klingons were suddenly absorbed by the blue glow of a transporter beam, as the space that they had previously occupied became empty, save for the few weapons that had been taken from their possession only moments ago. It seemed that someone, somewhere, had managed to get the transporters back online.

"Hmm...never mind."

The EMH was a little confused, but still pleased that no further lives had been lost. Although the Klingons might wake up a little embarrassed to have been defeated by a room full of injured crew and doctors with nothing more than anaesthetic gas, at least this way they would escape with their lives.

"Seems they got bored of waiting around....I recommend we start getting our patients back onto their beds - shall we?"

Coming 'round the corner from the office, Kohl returned to the ICU on brisk but cautious steps. "Doctor Ni Dhuinn, the critical patients in your office..." Kohl started to say. He trailed off when he squinted at the spot on the deck plates where the Klingons had been laying. Kohl looked around for where else the Klingons might be hiding, and when he couldn't spot them, he didn't even ask where they had gone. He was tired and scared and his fight-or-flight neurotransmitters were wearing out. It was enough that they were gone. "The, uh, the patients," Kohl reported, "Their condition remains stable."

Still a little confused herself, Pola holstered her phaser, still preferring to keep it in hand in case something further happened. Hearing Kohl behind her, Pola pulled the clips out of her hair, dumping them in her pocket until she had a moment to try refix it all. Starting to list in her head everything which need to be done, she first turned to Kohl and the EMH, "Kohl can you prep Markum for his operation. We'll need to contact engineering in relation to having a cybernetic arm fitted but right now we need to get a skin graft applied to the arm and the bleeding completely stopped. EMH, can you do the surgery?"

Vacantly, Kohl replied to Pola's orders with a silent nod. He left behind the EMH to answer to Pola and he padded over to Quinn, who was sitting under the surgical biobed. Kohl crouched down to the deck plates and he helped Quinn up.

"Of course." The hologram replied. " The original surgery was pioneered by a Dr Valen of Vulcan in 2265, his entire medical text is available to me to replicate his technique with precision. I will begin my preparations, with your blessing Mr Quinn?"

Quinn looked up to the EMH, then to Pola. "Does he ever shut up?" Things were starting to fade fast, and tunnel vision was overtaking him. He smiled and grabbed Pola's hand and squeezed. "If I live, don't let Tarish kill me. I had to do something, I had....to.....tr...y......" everything went dark for Markum, and the pain was no more. His last thoughts were of his son, and Tarish, and that idiot from the Thor...what was his damn name???

Looking around at her people working, Pola couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. When push had come to shove, they had all pulled together and pulled through this. Everyone had played the part the needed to and gotten their patients and themselves out the other side. Knowing that sickbay would soon be flooded with more injured, she started to move to aid helping the injured they already had here, hoping to try get people healed before the place became overrun. There would be time later to look back over this all.


[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

EMH Mark-X (NPC'd by Holliday)
Emergency Medical Hologram
USS Galileo

Klingon NPC's
Played by Holliday

Crewman Vera Lin (NPC'd by Kohl)
Nurse
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

Chief Warrant Officer Markum Quinn
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed