All the King's Horses, and All the King's Men...

Posted on 04 Nov 2012 @ 4:00pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Commander Scarlet Blake & Ensign Varek & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

3,292 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 01 - 0434 hours

[ON]

It had happened again. Galileo was a new ship on its first mission, and already, it had happened again. There was a body on every biobed in Sickbay. The very last one, the surgical biobed in the middle of the intensive care unit, became occupied when Andreus Kohl moved an unconscious Scarlet Blake atop it. To make matters worse, main power was down. Some of the biobeds, and some of the tricorders, and some of the emergency lights were running on battery power, but the rest of them were shattered on the deck plates. There was a theory the Emergency Medical Hologram might even be able to operate on battery power, but the computer's voice interface didn't seem to be working to activate the program. It might seem hopeless, but at least this time there were no murderous Klingons rampaging down the passageways. That little change was almost enough to make this time seem like a summer picnic to Andreus Kohl. Exactly like a summer picnic. Except, instead of too many choices of sandwich, it was too many choices of patient.

"How's your head feeling, Varek?," Kohl asked, as he passed the beam of a dermal regenerator across the laceration on the Vulcan's head. The beam cut out a couple of times, but Kohl squeezed the toggle and the device re-activated. There were patients who were, perhaps, more seriously injured than Varek, but Kohl figured they would benefit most by additional able medicos.

"I am fine," the vulcan assured Kohl as he stood up and brushed past, his head only half healed. "My expertise are needed." Being quite fond of triage, Varek could hardly approve of his injury being treated before those of the the rest of the crew. "I will begin evaluating, assist me. Find me a tricorder that works."

Kohl said, "On it," but he walked off in the opposite direction as Varek. Kohl crossed over to the cabinets against the bulkhead and pulled open a drawer. Slim medical tricorders were lined up neatly, since they were slotted inside their indentures, inside the drawer. Kohl tossed aside the spotty regenerator, and he took a tricorder in each hand. One, he dropped in the holster on his belt, and the other he held in front of him. Kohl spun around and hurried to Varek's side, proffering the tricorder.

The vulcan accepted the tricorder and began moving from one patient to the next, evaluating each and giving instructions to Kohl when he needed help. He worked methodically, of course, and with a quickness and precision that allowed them to treat several patients in a matter of minutes, those that were not as badly injured.

As Varek worked with greater focus on one patient, Kohl stepped aside and made his way over to a freestanding LCARS console. It was the console where the Emergency Medical Hologram's backup module was stored. Kohl opened the side of the panel and began tapping at the contacts on the side of the module.

More shaken than injured after getting the wind knocked out of her after the event that was more crash than landing, Delainey entered sickbay and gave herself permission for a brief personal indulgence before getting to work, she approached Kohl. "How's Scarlet?"

Kohl nearly blanched when he turned his head to look at Delainey. Here was the woman who was most directly responsible for Scarlet's well being, and he was the one to tell her, "She hit her head. She's unconscious." As he lead Delainey to the biobed where Blake lay, Kohl earnestly added, "She was saving the life of a patient during the crash."

Delainey was checking Scarlet's status the moment they approached her bed. As best as she could tell, Blake had a decent chance of recovery, but time would tell. Upon hearing Kohl's words, she smiled, "That sounds like Scarlet." Carlisle knew she should have turned her attention immediately to other patients, but she grabbed Scarlet's hand and squeezed it. "You did a brave thing, my dear, now it's time to wake up." Turning to Kohl, she offered, "Do you know if her daughter's okay?"

"I-- I-- No, I have no idea," Kohl said and he shook his head nervously. His eyes were darting from side to side, as he ignored his surroundings to play back the past couple of hours in his mind's eye. "She checked on her after we used Sienna but we-- none of us have left Sickbay since the landing."

Lirha walked...stumbled in with a bit of assistance from her Chief Medical Officer. She felt groggy and disoriented, to say the least, and didn't protest when she was dragged from the bridge and ordered to sickbay.

Moving in through the doorway, Pola had one of Lirha's arms around her neck as she half dragged, half carried the woman. "Someone get me inaprovaline and a biobed now!" Looking around, Pola realized that very quickly the place was starting to fill again. "Captain, hold in there and we'll get you stabilized..." Turning away, the Doctor felt frustrated at this point."...I need help now!"

"Allow me, doctor." It was Varek who came to her aid first, recognizing the importance of getting the captain back on her feet in an emergency situation.

He lifted Lirha easily and carried her to the primary biobed where a moderately injured patient was being helped up. As the weight of the Captain was taken away from her, Pola pinpointed each of her staff, and helpers, raising her voice loud enough so as everyone could hear her commands. "Priority now is stabilise. We are being flooded. Check, stabilise, check stabilise...our landing won't have gone unnoticed so emergency medical teams will be on the way and they will take the patients to proper facilities. Everyone ok with this?"

No sooner was she on the bed than the young medical officer turned to the hypospray tray, which he found in disarray but not badly that he could not find the inaprovaline.

"What is our situation, doctor?" Varek asked off-hand as he administered the drug.

With the weight of the Captain gone, Pola looked around as she took in everything around her. Seeing the chief counselor and Kohl gathered around someone who looked like Scarlet, the Doctor resisted the urge to run over, understanding that right now see needed to help with the rest of the patients. "The ship crash landed on the colony. We are still in one piece but power has been lost again. The colony has emergency team and medics on the way now." Grabbing a tricorder, Pola indicated for Varek to follow her as she started to check each patient and call out what would be needed to get the stable.

"It would be ideal if they arrived within the next three minutes," said the vulcan, almost hopefully.

Evelyn had remained on the bridge a moment longer to treat the remaining minor injuries before following Pola and Lirha back to Sickbay. As Evelyn walked in, a wave of disorientation washed through her body causing her to reach out for the door frame for balance. Images flashed through her mind and she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the current situation. After a minute, she blinked several times and the disorientation she felt earlier had faded but her breathing was heavy. She stood up straight and looked around at sickbay, recalling the situation, she made her way to an occupied biobed and got to work.

Varek, however, caught Evelyn faltering. "If I may, lieutenant," he said, waving a medical tricorder over her head.

Evelyn turned and saw the Vulcan begin to scan her. "You may." she said holding still. She looked at the Ensign, and noticed a look in his eyes as he reviews the readings. "Let me guess, brain activity is slightly elevated than normal? Serotonin levels also elevated?"

"I suggest you sit down, Lieutenant," he replied without referencing her question, "We are capable of meeting the medical needs of the ship without your assistance."

Evelyn smirked at the Vulcan, "I'm fine, and I was only volunteering." She replied as she placed her equipment on the empty bio-bed. "Now if you're asking..." her voice trailed off as her ears picked up a low hum from behind her. Evelyn turned her head head to look over her shoulder, and the humming stopped. "That's weird..." she whispers to herself. She then felt a a warm breeze caress her face and a sense of dread creep in the back of her mind as she she slowly turned her head to face Varek. Evelyn may be in sickbay but her mind wasn't. Her pupils were dilated, her breathing quickened. Suddenly, pain exploded, blossoming with in her mind and engulfing her body! Every bone in her body felt like they were on fire, her legs buckling as she collapsed onto her knees, her hands covering her head.

Evelyn heard someone screaming, a scream so loud and shrill, so full of pain it made her blood curdle. Later she realized she was the one screaming. "STOP! Please!!" she yelled throwing her head back; eyes wide, tears streaking down her cheek. "Cousin." she whimpered as she collapsed backward, her world going black.

"Doctor!" Varek called with more urgency than anyone had yet seen him use on board the Galileo, catching Evelyn before she could hit the floor, "Someone get seven cc's of improvoline." He wasn't sure what Evelyn needed but it would not hurt to have a hypo on hand.

Having heard the scream, Pola had her hands full with another patient as she was prepping for surgery. Knowing she couldn't leave the woman in her hands, she looked back at Varek, "Get her her stats up on one of the wall monitors and increase the inaprovaline to 20cc's and administrate. You're going to have to be my hands and eyes, I can't leave this person."

Standing beside another biobed, Kohl felt his grip on his tricorder tighten. For a second --for just half a second-- his mind jumped to an insane assumption that a Klingon had been hiding aboard Galileo all this time and-- But, no, it was Coleman. Kohl had never seen her be anything less than composed, even after being tortured, and he felt unsettled down to his bones to hear her like this. Pola was taking control of the situation, though, and so Kohl turned his gaze back to his patient, Scarlet Blake. He reached for the hypospray on the instrument tray and injected Blake in the arm.

Having heard the scream and call for assistance from across the room, Delainey moved to act. Moving to a nearby tray, Carlisle reached for a hypo, and heading to a nearby drawer, she promptly loaded it and brought it to Varek. She searched the monitor, but couldn't make sense of what she saw.

Varek was trying to move one patient off the biobed to free up Evelyn. "Help me," he told Delainey, taking the hypospray and injecting it into Evelyn's neck.

Moving quickly, Carlisle helped Varek move their patient to make room for Evelyn.

Once the patient was lying on the floor to one side, the vulcan placed Evelyn on the bed and reset the scanners. His medical tricorder was out a moment later and he scanned Evelyn.

Positioning her body so as she could quickly glance at the wall monitors, Pola also needed to keep her focus on the patient she was currently trying to set a chest drain into, before his second lung collapsed. "Varek you have to tell me what you're seeing, hurry!"

Vulcans never hurried, at least Varek did not. He replied readily, however, with short, accurate descriptions. "Low blood pressure, rapid heartrate, erratic spikes in neural activity. Her oxygen levels are being depleted in her tissue. Circulatory shock."

Listening to the the stats, Pola once again looked at the readout on the screens as her hands moved at their own volition, knowing what they were doing as if she was tying her shoe laces. "We need another 10cc's of inaprovaline, you can to get her stable. Get 15cc's of dexalin into her to help counteract the oxygen deprivation. Tell me if that helps. How how is the CO2 levels in the blood?"

"Slightly elevated," Varek replied, turning to Delainey again and holding his hand out expectantly. "Dexalin."

Delainey handed him the hypo, repeating its contents as per protocol.

Pola realised a couple of things seemed to be happening and she hoped that by treating the oxygen issue it would help with the neurological issue. They had to assume both where linked right now on the physical issues. "Someone get her onto 95% oxygen and I need a pH reading. If her breathing is shallow she mightn't be taking in enough oxygen which is starving her brain. We need to ensure the brain activity we are seeing isn't just a spike."

From her biobed, Lirha had heard her intelligence chief's cry of anguish. Her heart began to beat faster as concern overwhelmed her, and she craned her head to see what was happening but no no avail. All she could hear was medical jargon which flew over her head, and Evelyn was surrounded by blue-collared personnel. "Lieutenant Coleman, are you alright? What's happening?" the captain called out in a groggy voice.

Finishing up with her own patient, Pola left him for Eda to move as she rushed across to the Captain. "She's fine Ma'am. You need to rest right now or you'll relapse again." Turning her head in Varek's direction, Pola sent him a glance, telling him to update her quickly as she turned back to Lirha and checked her vitals.

Although her head was still spinning slightly, Lirha wasn't quite so convinced of Pola's simple assessment. Such a painful-sounding cry no doubt meant that something wasn't right, and she preferred to know the truth instead of be coddled in the biobed. "What's wrong with her?" she asked.

"We are trying to figure that out Ma'am but you need to rest and let us do our job to help her. We can't concentrate on Evelyn if we are worried about you..." Pola words were cut off as she heard Varek's voice.

"Her O-2 levels are rising," Varek called from the biobed, handing the oxygen unit back to Delainey. "Brain activity is returning to normal." Before he could offer to revive the lieutenant, a movement from her caught the vulcan's eye.

Evelyn's eyes snapped opened. Her irises were a vibrant crimson instead of their normal blue, and her pupils were white. She then inhaled a deep breath and her eyes began to shift. The red began faded to it's normal blue shade, and her pupils darkened to normal. She blinked a few times, "Where am I?" she mumbled feeling slightly disoriented.

Varek noted the change in her eye color but rather than say anything, he reserved the information for later and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are in sickbay, lieutenant," he told her. "You went into shock."

Evelyn blinked and turned her head to Varek "I went... I was purified." She whispers, "I was on El-Moira..."

"Now you are back," Varek replied indulgently.

Evelyn blinked and looked up at Varek and then burst out laughing. She smiled widely at the Vulcan. "Thank you." she chuckled, as she inhaled a deep breath.

Making her way over to the pair, Pola took a scan across the vitals as she felt confused. "Evelyn...do you have any idea what happened? Did you feel anything before you lost conciousness, to your recollection?"

She turned to Pola, "I...I saw my family..." her voice trailed off, she closed her eyes, covering her forehead with her hands. "It felt so real...so real..."

Alerted to an alarm on the biobed monitor, Pola quickly silenced the noise as she saw Evelyn's heartbeat and BP increase. Grabbing a hypo, she injected the woman with another 5cc's of inaprovaline out of fear of an easy relapse. "It's ok...your back here with us now, try to focus on that."

"Stop drugging me!" She shouted at Pola. "Damn it, none of you will understand!" She cried shaking her head, "none of you know what it's like. I pray you all never know what it feels like." She whispers, wiping her eyes, "damn it...when did I become so weak?"

"If I don't pump you with drugs Lieutenant then you're going to push yourself back into a relapse. Right now...you have to focus on the here and now. Ground yourself." Pola kept her voice even and stern, trying to force Evelyn to follow the order.

Evelyn groaned turning to Pola, "What is with this generation and damn drugs?! Can't anyone have a damn freak out anymore!" She shouted, sitting up on the bio bed, she then looked directly into Pola's eyes, speaking in a softer tone, "You're trying to help me and I really appreciate it. I want to believe we became friends after all of this. So please what I'm about to say, don't take this personally." She pushed herself off the biobed. "I've been in Starfleet for over a hundred years, there is a few dozen El-Aurians serving now. That fact our physiology is still a mystery to Starfleet Medical proves that Starfleet just thinks of us as humans with long lifespans."

"I treat you as I do every patient Lieutenant. I treat you that something has happened and I have to ensure that it is fixed or at least prevented from occurring again using the means at my disposal. You didn't just have a freak out, you went unconcious and your vitals destabilised. I will not argue with you in my sickbay, infront of my staff about the psychology of why we give you the treatment that we do. Take a look around you, we have hurt and injured we have to spend that time with." Taking a step back, Pola turned on her heel. "Varek keep an eye on her vitals and if there's anything of a concern, please let me know."

Evelyn watched her turned on her heels and walked towards another patient, and her eyes shifted to the Vulcan making sure he hasn't took a step closer to her. "Attend to other patients Ensign." She told Varek before heading towards the exit of sickbay.

Having had her attention drawn, Pola looked up from the patient she was currently evaluating, the sight she saw was Evelyn's back as she suddenly disappeared. Swearing under her breath, she closed her eyes for a moment before looking around to her staff. "Ok everyone...get back to work, we need to get everyone stabilised for transport to the colony hospital." Looking once again at the closing door, the Doctor realised at some stage her and the intelligence officer were going to need a long talk but right now, maybe this wasn't the place for her following what she'd been through.

Delainey offered verbal acknowledgement of Pola's orders. She was far from thrilled about Evelyn's abrupt exit, but she didn't exactly have a reason to keep her confined. Besides, at the moment, she had her hands full alongside the other medical staff. The needs of the many had to come first.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

Ensign Varek
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Amril

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

Lieutenant JG Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Scarlet Blake
Counselor
USS Galileo

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