Chaos Theory (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 06 Aug 2012 @ 7:21pm by Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Scarlet Blake & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Verity Thorne & Ensign Varek & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Chief Petty Officer Lucalin Mrina Ph.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marek Pawlak (KIA)

4,706 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 08 - 0130 hrs

[ON]

Panicked cries of pain and anguish echoed throughout sickbay as injured and lacerated crewman flooded every available corner of Galileo's small sickbay and overflowed into the corridor. Although the Klingon boarding parties had been successfully repelled, there were substantial injuries to many of the ship's crew and now many of them had managed to find their way to the infirmary. The stench of blood and burnt flesh was overwhelming, causing several wounded personnel to lose their composure and vomit on the floors of the corridor. Others who fared better simply cradled their wounds while leaning against the wall, waiting their turn to be tended to by one of the medical staff. The critical injuries had been given priority, but even still...there were so many of them.

Standing at the door to the morgue, Pola took a look at all of the bodies laid out, awaiting a moment for when burial could be arranged. Some of these people would have specific burial rituals which would have to be followed but most of the people here would be given an honorary Starfleet burial, their bodies released to the stars in which they had dedicated their lives to following.

Pola knew each of these people by first name, she had made it her mission to as each of these people had worked side by side with her on this ship, had tried to be helped by her or the people in her medical team or the medical helpers they had.

Stepping towards the first body, she saw by his face that it was Master Warrant Officer Marek Pawlak. He had dedicated his life to working in security, looking after the lives of others only to have had his own taken from him. When he had been transported to sickbay, he had already slipped into a deep coma. Having been exposed to the radiation leak on deck 3 it seems that he never sought medical help, instead deciding to continue on his duty, trying to protect the crew from the Klingons. As the radiation spread through his body, he fought through the headaches and feeling of nausea to get to the cargobay, trying to protect the vital equipment and scientists contained within. He had taken quite the beaten against the Klingons, having been thrown around, hitting his head a number of time which resulted in a bleed on the brain. By the time he got to sickbay, there was nothing more which could have been done. He had drifted into a coma as his organs shut down one by one, eventually leading to his death.

Lifting a sheet to cover his face, Pola closed her eyes for a moment as she muttered a quiet prayer. Even though not deeply religious, it was the meaning behind the gesture which was why she did it. Moving forward, she paused by each body, one after the next, taking a few moments at each to remember who they were and how they had ended up here. As she moved towards the final body, this one had her swallowing a lump.

Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III. Even though she had only had opportunity to meet the man personally once, he had been a senior officer like herself. They had sat through briefings and shared ideas alongside her fellow departmental heads. Remington's death had been at the hands of a Klingon bat'leth, plunged into his body as he saved his fellow colleagues on the bridge, trying to divert the Klingon's attention so they could get to safety.

As Pola stepped forward, wiping away a single tear for the man who's body laid before her, she pulled up the sheet, saying the same prayer she had for everyone else, asking that he find happiness wherever he ended up next.

In the Intensive Care Unit, Nurse Andreus Kohl moved quickly around the perimeter of one of the secondary biobeds, stepping closer to the Emergency Medical Hologram. A lash up of equipment trays, sterile field generators and a surgical support frame had transformed this lone bed into a make-shift surgical suite. Until his task was done, Kohl narrowed his focus to ignore the other patients on either side of him. It was Markum Quinn who was laid unconscious on this biobed, while the EMH operated on the spot where Markum's arm used to be. Kohl handed a vascular regenerator to the EMH, this one with narrower regenerative beams than the one the EMH was handling before.

Kohl looked away from the surgery for a moment to call out, "Doctor Ni Dhuinn? I can't find Nurse Lin anywhere. She wasn't in your office, protecting the patients, like you ordered..." It was petty, Kohl knew, to point out Lin's failings while Sickbay had been under siege ...but Lin had critisized his every mistake all evening. She had accused him of airs and graces, and, well, he never said he was above being petty sometimes. Especially when he was overtired. From where he was standing, Kohl couldn't see Lin nor the Chief Medical Officer anywhere in the ICU.

"I'm sure Nurse Lin is quite well Mr. Kohl." The EMH replied, not diverting his eyes from the various nerve clusters and blood vessels that he was still in the process of regenerating.

"She is well aware of her duties, don't forget we have extensive injuries all across the ship... if Dr Ni Dhuinn becomes concerned I'm sure we will know all we need to know."

Changing the setting on the regenerator, the EMH moved onto the next set of blood vessels, carefully applying the device as his ocular subroutines watched them seal up almost instantly.

"I'm going to begin stimulating the nerve clusters in preparation for the cybernetic implant.....you're free to attend to other duties for a moment if you need to."

Stepping away from the biobed --while the EMH had everything he needed for the next three minutes-- Kohl crossed Sickbay towards the office of the Chief Medical Officer. He retraced the last steps he had seen Lin taking before the Klingons had broken into Sickbay. He rounded the corner out of the ICU and glanced into the office; there were still patients inside. They weren't hiding from invaders now; they were just looking for free space to rest and recover. Kohl continued down the corridor past the office, and he noticed the door to the laboratory was open. Kohl couldn't understand why the computer hadn't automatically closed the door.

Looking down, Kohl saw the reason why the door was stuck open. Vera Lin's booted feet were sticking out from where she was splayed on the floor of the laboratory. There was a hypospray clutched in her hand. One of the patient's locked into the office must have needed it, Kohl supposed. He sprinted into the lab and he crouched down to examine her. "Doctor!" Kohl shouted back towards the ICU. "Nurse Lin is unconscious! She's not breathing! ...I don't think she ever finished those emphysema treatments, did she?"

Having heard Kohl cry out her name, Pola realised she needed to get back to work. The ship's Chaplain would be due soon to help them with the dying who couldn't be helped no matter what. Taking one last look around, the Doctor headed into main sickbay just on time to hear her nurse once again call for a Doctor in an almost frantic plea. Locking him near her office, she headed in his direction and broke into a run as she heard him make the announcement about Nurse Lin. Grabbing a tricorder from her pocket, she started a scan.

"Kohl, get me 10cc's of inaprovaline. She's been exposed to a high dose of the gas used to sedate the Klingons. I also need 15cc's of naloxone to try counteract the effects of the overdose." What Pola wasn't going to say at this point was her suspicions surrounding the fact that it was quite likely Lin would not pull through this but they still needed to try.

Stumbling as he got to his feet too quickly, Kohl never stopped pushing his feet against the ground to get further into the lab. His eyes scanned the shelves for the hypospray cartridges, and then he looked closer at the labels. In both hands, Kohl snatched up what he needed and then scrambled down to his knees by Lin's side. Without a thought to the morbidity of the situation, Kohl took the hypsopray from Lin's hand, ejected the cartridge from it, and loaded one of the new cartridges in its place. He tapped the controls to set the dosage before handing it over to Pola, while softly confirming, "10cc's inaprovaline."

Taking the hyposprays, Pola turned back to the patient, administering the drugs, "Kohl go back to the EMH, the surgery he is involved in will need your help. I'll take it from here." Picking up her hypospray, Pola realised that now it was just sit and wait. There was nothing more they could physically do to help Lin. Lifting the woman under her arms, Pola dragged her into her office floor, grabbing a portable scanner which she set to alarm if the nurse's vitals went critical before heading back out into sickbay, walking over to the next patient listed as critical.

Returning to the EMH at a brisk march, Kohl couldn't bring himself to look into the CMO's office while Pola dragged Lin inside. His breathing was unsteady, coming rapidly, but that didn't last very long before that detached feeling descended upon him. His panic was being eaten away by a pleasant, soothing numbness. It was always different when the patient was a medical colleague. Always different. Kohl returned to the EMH, and he stared at the photonic man with glassy eyes. He closed his eyes, trying to forget Vera's pale, limp expression. "Is Quinn ready for his new arm?" Kohl asked flatly. His voice only quivered once in the middle, and he didn't look back at the CMO's office.

"I have already begun attaching the bio-neural fibres to his existing nerve clusters. So far I am picking up no indications of feedback along the motor control circuits, and nerve signal degradation between the implant and his body seems minimal."

The EMH replied in a matter-of-fact voice as he continued attaching the various components that were required for the replacement arm to suitably function. It was simply a matter of connecting the existing human nerve endings to the various mechanical equivalents and then calibrating them to the correct settings for the particular patient. This arm in fact, was virtually done.

"I am realigning the optronic data pathway to match Mr Quinn's nerve impulse frequency....aaaand....we're done."

The Hologram looked up with an expression of satisfaction on his face as he looked over the work he had just completed. Although the cybernetic systems inside were artificial, through the miracle of modern medicine, the EMH had managed to synthesise the same skin type and colouration for the replacement limb as the Chief already had on the rest of his body - a perfect match that would allow the limb to look and act virtually identically to the organic one that he had lost.

Reaching for the microsuturing equipment, the EMH began to slowly knit the flesh between the artificial arm and the Chief's body together, watching as the gap slowly closed up and disappeared into nothingness.

"Administer 15cc's of chloromydride and the Chief should make a full recovery. Then wake him and we can see how he adapts to his new limb."

Nodding at the EMH's order, Kohl came to stand on the opposite side of the biobed and put his hands down on the surgical support frame. Kohl operated the LCARS controls on the frame to inject Quinn with the chloromydride, and then to retract the frame into the biobed. As Kohl watched Quinn's vital signs for the expected change, he said, "I'll call you back here when Quinn is awake." And the EMH was already moving on to another patient who was crying in the crowd.

Markum stirred and opened his eyes slightly. He wasn't sure if this was a dream, or reality. His arm felt....OH NO! MY ARM! he looked down and found it, attached. "This must be a dream."

"No, you're awake. You're alive. You wouldn't be dreaming of me," Kohl said, his voice measured on a tightrope of directness and taunting. "What did you expect for the biosynthetic arm? Oversized gears and brushed chrome?"

"Yeah....kinda." Quinn's head was swimming and he had a hard time taking in everything. He laid his head back and sighed. "I guess you did the handiwork, I take it...thank-you. If you weren't a hologram I'd buy you a beer."

Kohl's gaze rolled down from the biofunction monitor to Quinn's content face. "Buy me a beer anyway," Kohl demanded, and he grinned. He really grinned for that moment. "Holographic men get thirsty too."

Amidst the chaos, one officer seemed unaffected, a vulcan in a medical uniform. He carried Petty Officer Rhodes in his arms as he stepped through Sickbay's door, eyes quickly scanning the room. He set the petty officer down on the floor. Rhodes was covered in disruptor injuries. The vulcan's uniform was gone on his right arm, burned away. The skin of his arm was burned too and his green blood oozed down his arm, but he seemed not to notice as he drew his medical tricorder from his waist and scanned it over a bad injury on the human's face.

"Ensign Varek, medical officer, reporting for duty, ma'am," the vulcan mentioned off-hand, calling over to Pola a meter or two away without looking at her. "I was unable to report to you sooner." He got up and started sorting through some hypospray vials until he found one he liked. "I estimate this petty officer's survival at approximately eighteen percent, perhaps you can provide more assistance?" Kneeling once more, he injected his patient and then glanced to the nearest unattended crewman as if considering who was more likely to survive with immediate help.

Looking up from the engineering patient she had just started surgery on, trying to repair a punctured lung, resulting from broken ribs when a bulkhead exploded. The body was covered in 2nd degree burns which were currently being treated with dermalin gel, priority had been given to the damage in the lung. Hearing a voice behind her, she briefly looked over her shoulder before turning her sight back to the patient. "I'd say welcome onboard Ensign but you've really been dropped into the middle of it. Can you explain to me what his injuries are?"

"A welcome is unnecessary," Varek offered reassuringly, "but I understand the gesture." He stood up and started looking for a dermal regenerator. He gestured with his burned arm back to the petty officer. "Numerous severe disruptor injuries. One puncture wound below the left lung. Excuse me, doctor..." he grabbed the tool he sought near Pola when he saw she was not using it. With practiced ease, he turned and pulled out his medical tricorder, resting it on his knee and pulling out the medical probe to scan Rhodes, all while using the regenerator on the puncture wound. "Cellular necrosis has begun around the disruptor burn area and his neural activity is lessening. I am unable to treat him further." Pulling both tools away simultaneously, he stood up and headed towards the next patient, one on a biobed.

Letting out a sigh, Pola had listened to the Vulcan's prognosis and realised that what he was saying was true. The part she hated about this job was the fact that not everyone could be saved no matter what you tried to do. Breaking away for one brief moment, she ran her own tricorder over Rhodes, wanting to ensure he wasn't in any extreme pain. As she checked the neuroreceptor activity her tricorder started to make a rapid beeping noise as it indicated the Petty Officer was starting to flat line. She knew that trying to save him wouldn't make a difference, the brain damage and wounds were too severe, as quickly as they'd restart the heart it just just stop again. Killing the sound, she paused a brief moment before indicating for a nearby officer to help carry the body to the make shift morgue before turning back to her own patient, readily the chest to be mended back up.

Scarlet Blake worked silently on a biobed, watching the young engineer as she moved quickly to get him regenerating. And properly this time, unlike in Engineering with the hand held that barely touched with wound with how deep it was. She held her breath, keeping her own breathing steady through a strange mixture of painkillers and the pain that they didn't quite block out. She'd pushed on after the fight she'd got injured in. She wasn't dying, not like some of the people in sickbay. Once it was all done though, she'd sleep for hours.

Jonathan Sharpe watched her from the bed, reaching out to touch her bare arm. Her jacket had gone early, but he'd seen her strip off the bloodstained poloneck too, leaving her in the uniform vest underneath. "I'm all numb," he said quietly. "That's not good, right?"

Scarlet glanced up from her work, meeting his eyes as she took a breath, bringing a smile up. "It's better than the pain, right?"

"Not sure," he chuckled all the same, squeezing her arm, his eyes shining as he dropped his hand. "I heard you, you know, when you wanted to burn my wound shut. I guess it must be bad."

"I didn't quite put it like that," she said with a half smile, looking across to him with firm eyes. "This regenerator? It will heal you properly. It's deeper. It's what your wound needs. Honestly? Without it, you would have died," she tilted her head, holding his eyes, not patronizing him by lying. "But now we've managed to get you here? You're going to be just fine. You needed the heavy stuff, and here it is. So you're going to lay back and be as relaxed as possibly for me, okay? So we can fix you up."

"Aye, lass," he dropped his head back down with a sigh, closing his eyes easily. "No arguments here."

Verity Thorne moved in with a firm step, taking a look round too, absorbing what was going on around him. He frowned, taking a deep breath as he moved for Scarlet, touching her back. "Lily's fine, we had a good old singing session," he said softly to her.

She glanced to him, giving a grateful smile and letting out a long, tense breath that she hadn't known she was holding. "Thank you for letting me know," she said softly, but with meaning.

"Could hardly leave you worrying, could I?" Verity assured, squeezing her shoulder before moving on past to look around the room. He took a breath, but all he could smell was the acrid mix of chemicals, burned flesh and blood. He pressed forward, to see where he could be of some company.

Glancing up from the next patient she had moved onto, Pola spotted Verity. As she finished running the dermal generator across the incision site on the Lieutenant's knee, hoping they had repaired the ligaments and muscles sufficiently that Ben would be able to walk normally, otherwise he would require followup treatment. "Father thanks for coming down. I'd offer my hand but..." Pola shrugged her shoulders as she indicated the blood on her hands, the tiredness starting to creep in.

"Don't worry," Verity shook his head, taking a breath as he glanced down. "And it's just Thorne now, or Verity," he added softly. He'd stopped being 'father' a good couple of years back. "I'll stay out from under your feet. I'll start with the patients who aren't being worked on," he said softly. A slightly more pleasant way than saying 'the people who can't be helped'.

"Everyone is getting under everyone's feet so please have no concern over that. If you need anything from me, please just give me a shout. You'll find me here, my office or out treating the people in the corridor. We are currently using my office for the more critical." As she heard her name being shouted, Pola turned her head in that direction, "If you would excuse me Verity."

"Of course," Verity squeezed her shoulder in silent support in hopes it would offer some strength as he moved past her, heading for her office to see who he could speak to. Or just offer some company.

"I need help over here!" Carlisle shouted, even before the doors to sickbay were completely open. Behind her was Lucalin, laid out and still unconscious on a grav-stretcher, his nutrient beg clearly ripped out. Brayden was right on their tail. Delainey was not the type to scream or become hysterical, so her high pitched tone would have communicated just how dire she believed the situation to be to anyone that knew her well. She was trying to remember all she could about her patient and friend's unique physiology, but adrenaline was making it difficult.

When Varek heard Delainey calling out, he decided she could use the help of someone with less emotional strain to deal with... and who better than a vulcan? Thus decided, he made his way to intercept her, green eyes briefly studying her face and then the form of Lucalin laid out.

"Allow me, Lieutenant," the medical officer said calmly, directing her to move the stretcher to one wall of the sickbay. He followed, scanning Lucalin. "This individual has a peculiar anatomy. What are his injuries?"

It was all Carlisle could do not to scream at the doctor to simply look at their patient and scan him. The physiology involved was unique, yes, but some injuries needed no explanation. Just as quickly, however, she realized Varek was right. Acting too quickly could do more harm than good. Delainey quickly summarized what she knew, falling back into the curt reporting she'd learned in medical school, ending with, "Our priority needs to be re-establishing his nutrient bag."

Having heard the conversation going on across the Sickbay with his rather superior (by organic standards at least) hearing algorithms, the EMH made his way across the room, not by walking, but by deactivating and then reactivating his program so that he was now stood next to the biobed next to the wounded crew member in question.

"In which case he needs the services of a doctor, and although my hands might be holographic, I can assure you they are fully capable of treating any injury just as well as any organic lifeform."

"I am a doctor," Carlisle replied firmly. She made no move to take over for the EMH, however, and resolved to assist him in any way she could.

Picking up the tricorder from the instrument tray, the EMH began to survey the damage to the young humanoid in front of him. It was an unusual metabolism to be sure, in fact one that the hologram was impressed he had been given the chance to observe at least once in his operational service life.

"It looks worse than it is... Ensign, if you would be so kind as to set up the intravenous infuser, set it to fifty micrograms per second of compound A-47, he should be right as rain in no time."

Carlisle bit back a snappy comment in response to the hologram's flippancy. It was only because they were able to get Luca to Sickbay that Luca's condition wasn't worse off. If they'd been trapped in the cargo bay for a protracted battle, Luca could have died.

"Yes, doctor," Varek said, taking the EMH's arrival as a matter of course. He turned and moved quickly through the room, eyes scanning for the infuser.

Turning his head to look at the damaged nutrient port on the back of his patient, the doctor quickly calculated the necessary tasks to repair the damage, it would not take him long, but it gave him something to get on with at the very least whilst here.

"Meanwhile I'll take a look at this injection port... hmm... there doesn't seem to be any sign of latent infection, however I will administer a broad spectrum antibiotic compound just to be sure."

Reaching for a hypospray, the EMH deftly loaded the cartridge and set the dispersal yield, before applying it to the neck of his patient. It was better to be safe than sorry with any deep tissue wound, and this situation was no different to any other.

"Ensign, once you're done with that infuser go to the replicator and get a Series five intratissue infusion port and pick up some dermaline gel whilst you're there."

Varek walked past the doctor, setting the infuser down without losing pace, and continued on to the replicator. His hands flew over the LCARS as he searched the medical replicator database. It took only seconds, he had memorized the entire thing, after all.

Vulcan efficiency was perfect in this case, and the EMH was pleased to find his impromptu assistant had returned with all due haste with the necessary equipment.

Scanning the nutrient intake port, the hologram confirmed that the feed would still work as expected, at least, once the repairs had been completed. Picking up a microdermal probe, he quickly calibrated the implant to match the settings of the old, now damaged model, and wasted no time in disconnecting the microconnectors and prying the remains of the old port away from Lucalin's body.

After applying a layer of dermaline gel to prevent any irritation or inflamation from the new implant, the EMH inserted the replacement, and reconnected the microsutures accordingly.

"There we are... good as new. Why don't we see how this young officer is feeling? Ensign if you would be so kind as to administer five cc's of dalaphaline, he should come around quickly enough."

"Very efficient, doctor," Varek complimented, turning to the nearest hypospray setup and quickly inserting the indicated vial. "Five cc's of dalaphaline." Spinning it around on his palm, he pressed the device to Lucalin's neck and administered the drug.

Lucalin woke groggily, the drugs and fresh nutrients streaming through his system at warp speed. With the reintroduction of a caloric source, his body was already working hurriedly to finish healing all the bruises and other wounds throughout his body. "I'm still alive," he murmured, still dizzy. "How nice."

"Thanks to quick transport to the capable hands of a well programmed EMH that is. Your system took quite a shock but you should be right as rain in a few hours after some rest. I've administered a cocktail of drugs to strengthen your cells to support your natural healing processes but I still want you to take it easy for a couple of days, understood?"

"Understood," Lucalin agreed, not entirely cognizant of what he was agreeing to. His head felt too full and the sickbay was buzzing with beeps and chirps from the machines and groans and cries from the patients.

"We should proceed to the next patient, doctor," Varek suggested, losing no time in turning towards the people spread out before him.

"Agreed Ensign, come now, let's leave Mr. Mrina to recover." Putting the tricorder back down on the tray, the EMH headed off into the jungle of patients to see where he would be needed next.

Exhaling quietly in relief, Delainey waited until the EMH and Varek had departed before she placed a reassuring hand on Luca's. "I should see to the others, but I'm glad you're ok, Luca."

To be continued.....

[OFF]

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

EMH Mk-X
Emergency Medical Hologram
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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

Ensign Varek
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Scarlet Blake
Counsellor
USS Galileo

Crewman Verity Thorne
Chaplin
USS Galileo
NPC'ed by Ensign Scarlet Blake

Chief Petty Officer Lucalin Mrina, Ph.D.
Bioengineer
USS Galileo

Chief Warrant Officer Markum Quinn
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

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