She Did What? (Part 3 of 5)

Posted on 04 Jan 2020 @ 3:45pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Commander Teegan Jones & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & LuAnn Lovegood PhD
Edited on on 04 Jan 2020 @ 3:51pm

3,040 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 01, 0821 hrs

Previously, on She Did What? (Part 2)...

"We hit an ion storm but landed ok with minor damage," Mimi started to explain. "Chief Ghoc stayed with the shuttle, the rest of us headed for the protomatter signal we had picked up, at a large impact crater." She pulled her tricorder out to double check the information she was about to tell. "We found debris that looked like it was from a Federation starship, the registry number looked to be NCC-1864, then the ground.... exploded."

"What now appears to be a large, silicon-based life form emerged from the ground, followed closely by Tholian transporter signals. I warned the rest of the away team and suggested they return to the shuttle with as much speed as they could manage." Azra continued when it appeared that Mimi was having trouble continuing.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3 - Sickbay

Teegan drifted in and out of consciousness as she was taken to sickbay. She was surprised she was still alive. If she was still alive. She heard people around her as everything once again faded away.

LuAnn hurried over to the wounded officer. Once she was settled on the biobed, she hooked Jones so they could monitor her vitals. When she was satisfied they were working properly, she filled a hypospray with pain medication and went in search of a surgeon.

A portion of the sickbay illuminated with a pale blue light. a mild force field was erected to prevent anyone from accidentally running into an active transporter beam. True, the transporter beam itself was quite enough to "push" people and objects out of the way, but Starfleet Medical rather preferred a more...professional...approach. Circular in shape, the light grew a little stronger and the computer announced, "Medical emergency, incoming site-to-site transport initiated." The light grew stronger and then from roughly the center grew into an hourglass shape and then widened. As the transport cycle was nearly over, Lieutenant ir-Llantrisant and LTJG Plumeri materialized and the transport was over. Matthew was not really conscious - vaguely aware that he had been transported. His whole right side ached, broken ribs, fractured humerus, ulna and radius. Punctured lung and internal bleeding. Torn muscles of the chest and back and a concussion.

SCPO William Ward, RN had just finished treating another crewman with severe burns. Ward was tired and yet the injured crew kept coming. He heard the announcement that the Virginia had returned. There weren’t any beds for them now. Ward set himself about to fix that and took care of those that could be discharged to their quarters. A minute or two earlier he saw an officer from the Trial being helped into sickbay. He finished up with this crewman and discharged her. When he turned around and saw the look on LuAnnn Lovegood’s face. He said two words, “Show me.”

Ward was in his early forties, thin as a rail and calm as a cold ass cucumber. He walked with long, fast strides over to the biobed where Commander Teegan Jones lay. He looked up at the computer biobed readings making a mental note of her condition from the preliminary vitals and said, “We need to stabilize her condition until we can get her into a surgical field. Taking a medical tricorder in one hand and a hypo in the other he said, “I’m going to give you something for the pain Commander.” Without waiting, he pressed the hypo to her neck and it hissed out anapoline for the pain. He pressed another button and then administered a second shot, “Since you’re an officer, I better give you some of the good stuff.” He pressed the hypo again to her neck and administered some anti-anxiety medication. He watched her vitals and then said. “Let’s get her out of her tunic so we have evaluate her burn.” Suddenly, the biobed starts beeping alarmingly. “Tetryon radiation? She has been shot with a Tetryon weapon!” Ward says with obvious shock and concern. He looks around for any other medical personnel but sees none that are free to help. Ward looks at Lovegood, “You’ve just been drafted.”

At that moment, ir-Llantrisant and Plumeri were transported to sickbay. Ward looked and nodded to the nearby biobed, “Put that one over here!”

Looking around at the state of Sickbay, Lake ir-Llantrisant was surprised to find Matthew on his feet -- surprised that he hadn't been beamed directly to one of the biobeds. Lake swooped in, wrapping an arm around Matthew's shoulders instinctively. He bore the weight of Matthew against him and led him over to the biobed that Ward had pointed out. One limb at a time, Lake guided Matthew to recline on the bed, helping him to lift his legs up on the padded surface.

Ward took a quick look at Matt’s condition, he read quickly but he read carefully. Still, cool and calm he said, “He’ll live. The EMH stabilized him for now.” Ward handed Lake two medical instruments. One was a dermal regenerator and the other was a hypo. “Stop the bleeding, keep him hydrated and warm. Keep him awake, he has a concussion. Give him one dose of Viamrazine every 15 minutes. I’m right next door; I’ll be with you as quick as I can.” He handed Lake the instruments. “Go on, you can do this Counselor.”

"Hmm," Lake muttered dryly, and he followed it up with a, "Yes," as he took hold of the tools. "My neurology professors will be quite disappointed if I couldn't," he told Ward, as Ward quick-stepped in the direction of Teegan Jones. Lake slapped the side of the biobed with the back of a hand to trigger the surgical support frame to roll into place over Matthew's midsection. After giving Matthew the first dose of Viamrazine, Lake synced the biobed to the infuser ports the EMH had hurriedly inserted in the field.

Looking to Matthew, Lake asked, "Did you hear that?" He stepped close enough to brush the matted hair off of Matthew's forehead. "You are hereby ordered to stay awake and to talk to me," Lake teased, smiling down at him, "upon threat of reprimand and demotion."

Matt was in and out of consciousness but, now on the biobed, he was aware that he was in sickbay. He kept asking, "I want to see Lake. Where is Lake?" Not realizing that he wasn't speaking those words. The pain was less now. He lay on the bed and he heard Lake's voice. "Thank ye gods!" he thought. He felt some tender caress on his forehead and immediately forgot his splitting headache. His right eye was bloodshot and looked terrible. His skull had a fracture - not his first thanks to playing the squares - but that's why he was bleeding from his scalp. He tried to move his right arm and hand to reach out and couldn't. The muscles wouldn't work. He opened his eyes now and saw a blur. But he thought he heard Lake's voice. He asked out loud, "Lake?" He focused on the figure above him and the confusion lessened. Lake's face and voice came into focus. "Oh!"

The tears flowed down his cheeks and with his left hand he opened it and found Lake's hand. He didn't say anything at first but just squeezed Lake's hand with a "never-let-you-go" grip. And all he could say was, "See....I....told you....I was coming back!" Matt was so happy inside. He looked through blurry vision and said, "I missed you! I wanted so much...to see you again."

"I'm here, though. I'm right here," Lake said in reply, trying his best to hold Matthew's eye-contact. Having Matthew to worry about evoked a sense of clarity in Lake. The conflicts from the past few hours washed right off him -- for now. He tapped at the surgical support frame, activating the influser ports to administer fluids and an analgesic. "You have nothing to search for. You can just be here," Lake said.

The infuser made a slight whirring sound and as Matt's blood volume was returning to normal the analgesic that was administered felt so good to his splitting headache. He had never really felt this weak before. His body had been hammered and beaten but he was still alive. His grip on Lake's hand wasn't as strong as a profound sense of relief at having survived came over him. His whole body ached - from balls to bones. He was in too much pain at the moment to focus on any one thing. He was a bloody, grimey, broken mess right now. The fact that Lake was touching him gave Matthew a sense of calm and a sense of security. The Tholians were still out there. Captain Saalm was still out there and his mind was not far from either of those ideas.

His left eye was bloodshot and it was half-white and half-red with broken blood vessels. His right side was very badly beaten. Having been thrown against the bulkhead and kicked had done that. He turned his head and saw the fuzzy images of Ward and Lovegood working on Commander Jones.

Ward said to Lovegood, “We need to sterilize her injury. On the tray, the white box of sterile pads, we need more of them. Get the from the replicator?” He turned his attention to Commander Jones, “How do you feel Commander? The pain meds working?”

Jones was no longer in pain, but she was still suffering from blood loss and shock. She managed to open one eye to look at the doctor and mumble something incomprehensible.

"Here you go," LuAnn said, returning with the box of sterile pads and setting in on the tray in reach of the doctor.

Taking the package, "Thank you" he said to Lovegood. "Computer, erect a sterile surgical field over this biobed." A surgical field came online with a zap. Ward took what looked like a two-pronged fork and activated it. He then cut off the remains of Teegan's uniform until she lay bare naked on the biobed. Take the surgical wipes, he opened them and handed some to Lovegood. "Clean out her wounds as best you can. I want to do this part by hand because we are going to look for how bad the burns are."

As they cleaned, Ward made medical notes into the audio log that was recording the procedure. He noted all of the wounds, the cuts, the bruises and the broken bones she had suffered. She was seriously injured but she was tough. When they had finished the topical cleaning and noted all of her injuries Ward said, "Computer, activate the surgical suite." The midsection rolled into place over her biobed. "Commander, we're going to take care of this wound you have. I'll see you a little later when it's all over." As he spoke he typed in the anesthesia commands and out she went. He looked at Lovegood, "Let's get to work." Ward started the surgery as he opened up her chest. They had to clean the wound and excise the tissue that was dead from the Tetryon shot.

Ward worked quickly and carefully. Not letting the noise of sickbay or the alarms going off get the better of him. Truth be told, Commander Teegan Jones was lucky to be alive. It must have been her sheer willpower to stay alive. Ward had been in enough surgery and trauma centers to do a decent job. He wasn't going to win any awards but he knew what he was doing. "LuAnn? Would you prepare 10 milliliters of Hyronalin salve? Zero-two-zero active Hyronalin please? Now that her wound is clean, we need to stop any more radiation damage and start her on re-hydration drip." Ward said as he worked.

Next, Ward turned his attention to her broken sternum from the Tetryon blast. "Dermal regenerator there....and that bone regenerator too? Set it to recalcify?"

LuAnn nodded and prepped both devices before handing them, one at a time, to Ward. "Here you go."

"Thank you" Ward said as he took the instruments and each in turn slowly moving them over her wound. The bone regenerator came to life with a blue hue to it. Ward hovered over her sternum and then activated a very low power recalcifying beam. It was delicate work to pull her bones back into position while at the same time reset them and restrengthen them. It was slow work. He didn't rush or get flustered when the noise in sickbay was distracting. "Computer? Access transporter record logs for Commander Teegan Jones, authorization Ward, one-two-oberon-sigma." The computer chirped and responded, "Authorization accepted. Accessing transporter logs."

"Compare Commander Jones' transporter log as close as possible to her last medical exam. Restrict search to skeletal composition and orientation. Note any discrepancies to the patient now."

"Working" the machine said. As it accessed the database and compared the two profiles from "then" and "now" it arrived at the answer, "There is a 0.30 micron difference in the outer layers of the overall structure. There is a fracture along the third coligual rib extending laterally. There is internal damage to the marrow radiating in all directions from the center."

Ward nodded and realized that he had missed a fracture. He focused the bone regenerator as an alarm started beeping that Teegan's chest had been open too long - he needed to close her up. "The other injuries will have to heal naturally. I'm a firm believer that we can fix some things with these tools but the best doctor is mother nature" he said to himself quietly, almost as if he were gently talking to the unconscious Jones. "That got it" he said as he repaired her rib connection to her back. "Let's close her up."

Taking the dermal regenerator and the hyronalin salve, he applied it to her open wound. Working the green salve into the flesh with his gloved fingers and spreading it over her entire chest. He looked up at the Tetryon count and watched the overhead display. Tetryon didn't respond to Hyronalin treatment easily; Teegan's flesh would. Time would heal her as the deadly subspace radiation would dissipate. Ward reached for a black rod, activated it and hovered it over her head to her feet. As he slowly moved down the length of her body, small sparks, like tendrils of vapory energy were attracted to the black rod. He gathered up the radiation that was attracted to normal matter and neutralized it.

Using the dermal regenerator he closed up her wounds after he cleaned off the Hyronalin salve. "Computer, deactivate the sterile field and start a hydration infusion. Standard drip, add one-fiftieth parts per million of Driazine at 30 minute intervals for four hours." The computer chirped. The field deactivated and Ward took off his gloves. "Thank you doctor Lovegood. I appreciate the help."

"Any time," she said. "You did well. I enjoyed watching you work." She smiled at the doctor before beginning her clean up.

"Thanks. On to the next customer," Ward said as he looked over at Plumeri and ir-Llantrisant

Matthew had shallow breaths now, his grip on Lake's hand was weaker. He was having trouble staying awake and his blood pressure was dropping. He opened his eyes and looked up at Lake, it felt so good to be touched.

Ward came over and stood by the biobed and looked at the readings as he took off his blood stained smock and put on a fresh one. "Blood pressure dropping, infuser is on. There is some damn internal bleeding somewhere. Ward looked over Lake and said, "You can help if you want?"

Ward started working on Matthew. With the assistance of another nurse, he cut off all of the nasty, grimey, bloody clothing. Bare naked, he was cleaned by the nurse with a sponge as his lacerations, bruises and torn tissues were repaired with a variety of medical instruments. As the nurse worked on the outside, Ward worked on the inside. Finding the ruptured femoral artery, he stopped the internal bleeding. Ward next turned his attention to the punctured lung and the broken ribs. Then the fractures along Matt's sides. Bill wiped his face a few times but otherwise said nothing except for the occasional word or two to the attending nurse.

Plumeri had been beaten pretty well. But he was young and he was strong; he would recover in time. While all of this work was being done, Matthew's concussion was being treated. Making sure that the swelling and any pressure on his brain was being monitored and relieved. Ward carefully examined the fractures to his skull. He looked for more trauma and he repaired that as well. His broken nose was reset, the bleeding was stopped. His eyes were examined and the broken blood vessels gently, carefully attended too.

Two hours later, Plumeri lay sedated and resting. Covered by a sheet he was moved to an area that was quieter and away from the immediate bustle of the sickbay environment. Ward came to check in on him at the end of the fourth hour. Satisfied that the younger man would pull through he signed off on the chart. He entered his notes into the computer. "Computer?" he said, "Lieutenant JG Plumeri is on medical leave for two-weeks. He is to report for physical therapy in two days and then medical evaluations once per week or as often as needed. Medications as necessary for pain and discomfort. Attending physician, William Ward."

The machine chirped in reply, "Acknowledged."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Teegan Jones
Executive Officer
USS Trial
[pNPC Sandoval]

LTJG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

EMH Mark X-C "Shirley"
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

LuAnn Lovegood
Counselor
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

SCPO Ward
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Plumeri]

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