Back in the saddle

Posted on 16 Oct 2021 @ 8:50pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde
Edited on on 29 Oct 2021 @ 6:48pm

3,148 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Security Office
Timeline: MD 07, 0500 hrs

[ON]

Looking at himself in the mirror freshly shaved and again back to his normal mental state of mind he even managed to flash himself a smile. "You got this Luke, no one hates you. Go out there and conquer the day," he told himself before turning the light to his ensuite off and proceeding to leave his room.

Aria Rice was sitting at the Chief's desk, feet on said desk, various padds around her. She was reading, a frown on her face, a mug of once hot now cold coffee in her free hand. She was going over the after action reports, finding it a task that needed done to put together for a larger report.

The walk to his office was uneventful and he didn't have to have too many interactions with the crew and those he did were brief, even the turbo lift was empty. Stopping short of his office door he took in a breath and stepped in to find the room already occupied.

Aria looked up, meeting Luke's eyes before she gave a small smile. "So I leave the ship for a bit and all just...happens. I always miss the action," she said lightly, because it was better to address the gormagander in the room rather than stay silent about it.

"Morning, Aria," Luke said with a forced polite smile, "What have I missed? Except maybe your promotion to chief security officer." This time his smile was genuine as he teased the woman infront of him.

"This cursed chair? Oh no, hell no..." Aria smiled as she stood and stepped to the side, making a show of bowing as she offered him the seat. "We've already talked about how cursed that thing is. I remember a whole line of Security Chiefs getting it, being oh so proud...then badness happened..." she hit his shoulder lightly when he got closer to her.

"Well I seem to be doing something right, though perhaps my only curse is having to deal with you in my department..." Luke sat himself down and hummed. "Yep that must be it." Opening the LCars he scanned quickly, there was nothing of importance worth noting so leaned back. "Lets do a patrol, I haven't been about much." Being back in his office had helped him remember who he was and already was feeling better.

"Sure thing," Aria said and smiled, stretching before she held his eyes. "Although I suspect things will be quiet. People are slotting back into it, getting their shifts back in order. Getting their feet firmly on deck yet again."

"That's just what I hoped for," Luke said standing again and straightening out his tunic before moving round his desk and holding out his hand. "Ladies first." He waited for her to take the lead before exiting the office and falling into step alongside her.

Aria nodded as she walked beside him, glancing at him before she looked ahead. "I think we should do more training. Get the Security team together again. Maybe a close combat scenario, let people stretch their legs with teams Alpha and Bravo?"

Thinking about the idea his hands behind his back he nodded. "I've been thinking about the same thing, we haven't run one lately and though we're not slacking we're probably not as good as we should be. Who do you suggest in which teams?"

"Well, depends on how you want to do it. It could either be all Security, or we ask some of the other departments to send their best fighters," Aria said before she considered it. "If strictly Security, then Team Alpha would be you, Stark, Rodriguez, Fayal, O'Brien, T'Pan, Peterson and a nurse. Team Bravo would be me, Sanada, Hawke, Rielle, Milner, Feng, Sheridan and a nurse."

"I think keeping it to just security, for now, If were going to do this then let us get ourselves fighting fit before offering Joe Blogs from engineering to have a go at shooting at us," he joked, turning the corner and seeing another empty corridor which still had some signs of battle damage, down the end of the corridor was one of the storage rooms. "Lets go check in there," Luke said pointing.

She looked at him before she nodded, taking point before she moved to the side of the door. It was unintentional, speaking of the time she was posted elsewhere, doing checks on smuggler ships when someone armed could come through a door.

Luke watched Aria and then said "I don't expect there to be any resistance Aria, we're not boarding a borg cube today we can let ourselves relax a little." He moved to the door and opened it the smell of burning metal assaulting his nostrils. "I stand corrected."

Aria frowned as she moved in, carefully, looking around. "Oh God..." she wrinkled her nose, bringing her sleeve up to her nose. "I hate that smell..."

It smelt of burned plastic and metal, moving into the room Luke had to cover his mouth. "I don't see anyone the smoke is coming from over there," he said pointing towards the other end of the room in one of its corners where black smoke billowed. He wondered why the fire suppression system hadn't kicked in and guessed it was one of the systems offline from the repairs.

Aria nodded and moved to press a panel, to pull out the fire extinguisher. She stepped forward with it, starting to spray down, coughing before she set her features against it, willed herself not to. Or tried to anyway. She should have donned the gear. She hadn't. Aria Rice was a big stupid head.

Whilst the manual extinguisher dealt with the immediate fire there was no way the pair could have seen the large electrical surge happening in the consoles auxiliary battery module until it was too late. The explosion ripped the console outwards towards Luke and Aria. Quickly thinking Luke stepped between the explosion and Aria.

Luke didn't see what hit him as the light behind his eyes turned off as a small fragment of plexiglass console screen embedded itself into his hippocampus. Luke's face had been lacerated several times and his clothes were shredded and burnt particularly his arms where a stubb of metal stuck out through both sides of his right hand due to the fact he had managed to shield a portion of his face likely saving his life. His eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor soundlessly, only his pulse and shallow breathing indicating he was still alive.

Aria exhaled at the explosion and even with Luke in front of her was thrown into the wall. Disorientated, she pushed herself to her hands and knees, seeing Luke and the bleeding. She swore, crawling over and feeling for a pulse before tapping her badge. "This is Rice, I need emergency transport to sickbay for two, there has been an explosion," she said, between coughs, her hands holding Luke's head steady for the transport.

Alexion Wylde was the medic that was notified...but with very little notice. He turned where he worked in Sickbay, and only a breath later the transporter beam delivered his patients to him. He ran his eyes over the pair, quickly assessing the damage he could see. His jaw tightened ever so slightly. Burns were one of the few injuries that he still couldn't shake a distaste for.

"How?" was all Wylde demanded as he moved swiftly around the biobed, bringing up the arch to get a detailed scan of the damage, even as his other hand loaded a hypo and pressed it to the man's neck to slow the bleeding.

Aria pulled back, to give him space, clearing her throat. "Fire in one of the storage rooms, Sir. Then the console blew up. He...put himself between me and the explosion, caught the blast," she said, her voice quiet...but the words steady, like she was delivering a report. "Breathing shallow, there was a pulse when we beamed here."

"There still is," he replied evenly as he scrolled through the results of the scan piling in, filtering through to get to what he needed, what mattered in the moment. Lacerations, no...contusions, no...various burns, not a high enough degree to be of immediate concern...the lump of metal in his brain however? That was the enemy. "Lieutenant, report to another medic for an examination, I need to prep him for surgery."

"I...yes, Doctor," Aria said and pulled back, moving away from the area...her hands shaking, but she knew that Wyatt was in good hands. She headed out to her quarters to wash herself, not wanting to be in the way. The medic could wait a bit.

=======

Allyndra looked over the scans and talked to Wylde. "The object appears to have entered the left frontal bone, with a partial exit between the left ethoid and occipital bone. There are fragments of skull in the left frontal lobe but the left temporal lobe has only the object itself. The wound canal has had bleeding which is now controlled. The object is the deepest and not as easily accessible from the initial entry point. I think it best we clear bone fragments first and then perhaps we can assess on how best to handle the object itself. Think the skull fragments we can easily remove with tractor forceps."

There was a time when one actually used metal forceps to enter the brain and remove objects but now instruments could used something very similar to a tractor beam but on a much more finer level and without having to actually enter the tissue any further. She wished the same applied to transporter style technology where the bits could just be beamed out but such delicacy was not there, at least not yet.

"Dr. Wylde would you please get started while I try to determine the best way to remove the primary object itself. I need to determine if removing by going forward or back through the injury site will cause the least amount of damage."

Wylde watched her for a moment before nodding sharply. He moved in close, settling down to the task at hand. It was slow, precise work, the kind that could prove ultimately frustrating for many people. And he wasn't immune to such reactions. Years of experience mitigated it though as he fell into the zone. His world narrowed down to the focused pinprick of time and tissue. He absently tuned into the body he worked on without even realising it.

Allyndra only partially watched Dr. Wylde. She trusted his skill. It was more just to see what was going on as the bits got removed and how to proceed with the object itself. Finally she made up her mind and waited until Wylde had gotten the bone fragments.

It seemed endless, but finally Wylde straightened, the dull ache in his back barely registering as he resisted the urge to wipe his brow. "All clear," he said quietly. His task was done, but he was frowning, because he knew it wasn't even the start of the real work. Or the real danger.

"Very nice work doctor," she said and then put the scans. "As you can see the main object has come to rest here just penetrating the skull between the the left ethoid and occipital bone. The object itself is approximately half a centimeter wide and two centimeters long. What I propose is to make a slight trepeannation in the bone around the object and then remove the object that way rather than pulling it back out the way it came.

My feeling is we are already dealing with swelling due to the entryway and cannot see making it worse. The second is this will allow some of the swelling to subside that is already building around the object. What are you thoughts?"

He was silent for a long moment, deep in thought...and mostly grim because he knew that whichever option she took the risk was still incredibly high. And even if they saved his life...he shook the thought away, letting out a slight breath before nodding firmly. "You're right, there would be more control," and less resistance, but that was harder to put into words.

"Very good," Allyndra nooded. "I prepare for the trepeannation while you support the object so it does not move."

It was slow going as the two of them had to move gently around each other as Allyndra slowly sliced the bone around the object while Alexion held the protruding object as steady as possible. As she got to the last bit she nodded, "Making final cut now."

Alexion swallowed back the urge to nod in response, his body holding as steady and still as possible in support to the doctor's delicate ministrations. He'd once been told by an instructor that a person was either born with steady hands, or they weren't. He didn't believe it, not for a second. It was a sense of will that could be trained with experience and practice. But that also meant it could sometimes fail at any time, like any other skill. He resisted the temptation to hold his breath, his eyes watching for the moment she'd finished her cut, and slowly, painfully slowly, he started to ease the metal out, the loose bone shifting compliantly with it.

Allyndra finished up and Alexion slowly maneuvered the piece out along with the piece of skull bone. As soon as he was clear, she got started the repair of dura, bone and scalp. As she did so, she checked the monitor periodically to make sure nothing worse was occurring but while there was a small rise in intracranial pressure it was tolerable.

"Very good doctor, I think we have a successful surgery. You did quite well. Readings look good and now it is just letting the narcotics work out and let our patient start the recovery period." She waved a hand at the piece sitting on a tray. "Perhaps should wash that up. Might make for an interesting souvenir for the commander at some point. She smiled.

Alexion gave a weak, half smile at that, moving to look at the metal, thinking that maybe she was right. If he survived and recovered well, recovered fully, then he should keep it. With what it could end up doing to him...if he came out on top...it would have been a hell of a fight.

=======

Marisa made herself wait until Luke was out of surgery, although she'd managed to get little done. She walked into sickbay and looked for someone who could give her more information. "How's Luke?" she asked.

Allyndra glanced over to Wylde and said, "Let's keep monitoring for awhile longer things look stable but we are in early stages." She then made her way over the Marisa and with a gesture and tilt of her head indicated her office.

Marisa nodded.

Wylde turned back to the biobed, sighing slightly as he rested his hands on the edge, leaning on them as he looked down over Luke with a frown. Too much of it was out of their hands now.

"Please have a seat," Allyndra moved around to the other seat and took it. "Lieutenant Commander Wyatt is resting comfortably now and appears to out of immediate danger. As you realize that I cannot give further details without knowing the relationship between you two for privacy concerns."

"We're a couple, for lack of a better word," the science officer replied. "We've been sharing quarters for a few weeks. It's not a secret, but we haven't really said anything, either."

Allyndra nodded. "Very well," she took a breath. "During the explosion a piece of metal entered the commander's skull. I am guessing as impulse he turned his head to the right and down slightly. That probably saved his life. However, the object penetrated through parts of the left frontal cortex and into the left temporal lobe. While we have not had time to assess the full extent of the damage, more than likely there will be problems with speech, walking and with the temporal lobe I am guessing anterograde amnesia as well. Now some patients regain quite a bit of their ability but memory might be affected longer, but on a more permanent basis literature indicates such affected patients with that sort of frontal lobe injury seem to become less risk adverse."

Marisa nodded, digesting the information. Right now, she was just glad he was alive. "What can I do to help? I know he'll probably need physical therapy, but is there anything I can do, besides be patient and encourage him?"

"Be patient," Allyndra replied with a solemn tone. "I do not know how much loss there will be yet, nor how much might be permanent or temporary. He may not be able to walk, talk, or remember things properly. Even in this day and age healing of the physical damage to the brain is still not perfect. Neurons will have to make new connections and the pathways re-established."

"I understand." As a counselor, Marisa was familiar with the complexity of brain injuries. "Is it okay if I spend a little time every day sitting by him?" Research showed that it could help in the healing process, and she just wanted to be there with him.

"Of course, just be aware he might seem different, perhaps not even recognize or be able to respond for a bit. We can encourage the neurons to grow but they have to make their own connections."

"I know. I just...need to be with him, to feel him near." It was enough for now. Marisa was aware that injuries like this took time, and there would be bumps along the way, but she wanted to support Luke as much as she could.

"Very good," Allyndra nodded. She reached over and put her hands out to take Marisa's. "Let us now hope for a full and speedy recovery." Though Lieutenant Sandoval did not share the same belief Allyndra added and hoped that she would understand. "May the Twins bless."

She took the doctor's hands. "Yes. Thank you." She did indeed hope the Twins would bless Luke. Right now he needed all the help he could get.

Marisa pulled a chair next to Luke and put her hand over his. "Hello, love. I'm here," she whispered softly. For now, she was content to sit by his side and wait.

[OFF]

--

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief of Security
USS Galileo-A

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Second and Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Dr. Alexion Wylde
Medical
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

Lieutenant JG Aria Rice
Security
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

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