Aftermath
Posted on Tue Mar 30th, 2021 @ 3:58am by Commander Nathan Hawkins & Lieutenant Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Libby Harper & Captain Luzol Targaryen & Captain Ryan Walsh & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Jasmine Haynes & Lieutenant Commander Patton O'Sullivan & Kiala
Edited on on Sun Aug 15th, 2021 @ 11:34am
7,068 words; about a 35 minute read
Mission:
Burning in the Skies
Location: Starfleet One
Timeline: 0000-00-00, 15:15
Cold. That was the first thought that went through the mind of Admiral Luzol as she felt her mind awaken. She felt an overwhelming feeling of being cold overtake her entire body. She felt like she had been run over by a shuttlecraft. Her entire body hurt and she felt like she had been stabbed a thousand times by needles. The cold and pain were replaced by her mind warning her of a growing smell of ozone surrounding her. Then her eyes, still closed, showed trickles of light pushing through as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Starfleet One?" She questioned as she lay on the floor in a near whisper. She looked around the massive room from her spot right in front of the Captain's Chair in the center of the command arena. The lights were low and many of the consoles were offline - some having simply lost power and others having had exploded. In spots the licking flames gently rose and cast the entire room in a disturbingly handsome glow. Eerie shadows were cast throughout the room amidst the twisted hunks of metal. She could hear some sounds around her, but none of them sounded like people. Instead she heard what sounded like groaning metal deep within the ship itself.
The Acting Captain felt the nausea overtake her. Turning her head quickly the vomit flew from her mouth and on to the crimson colored carpet. She coughed violently afterward, the taste in her mouth making her want to vomit again. Using every ounce of strength in her body she pushed herself up onto her forearms, more energy still she was on her hands. They started to shake and almost give out.
A hand reached down and grabbed her by the shoulders. Powerless to fight back she was pulled to her feet and turned around toward a man. Her eyes struggled to focus as this intruder of her personal space came into focus.
"Will?" She struggled.
Her husband nodded, "It's me, Elle."
"Where are we? What happened?" She asked looking around the Bridge.
"We're on Starfleet One," he answered as he helped her to the Captain's Chair. "Where exactly I don't know. Power systems are out, most of the crew are unconscious," he paused, "some are dead. A few of us have started trying to get out through the ship to get to key locations and systems."
She pecked at the obsidian colored panel built into the armrest, "I figured that was a lost cause. What about Galatea?"
"The computers are down," the other Admiral answered. "We only know we're out of the wormhole because we were able to look out a window and saw stars."
"Any of them look familiar?" Luzol questioned hopefully.
He dashed those hopes quickly, "I didn't have time to get out a star chart book of the night sky and try to find Daffy Duck or Toby the Targ in the dots."
"You don't have to be an ass," the CO replied. She sat quiet for a moment as the image of her children popped in her mind, "Will, the kids!"
He reassured, "They're fine. My parents had brought them up to the Ready Room after you came here. They're safe there. Scared, but safe."
"We need to start reconnecting with the crew," she said absently. "Then we need to connect to Starfleet."
"We're already on it," he answered. "First, we need to get you checked out."
She was confused, "What?"
He touched her forehead and she winced in pain. He lowered his fingers toward her eyes and rubbed them together, they were slick with her blood. "You hit your head pretty hard. The Deck One Medic and my mom are using the XO's Office as a makeshift med bay. You need to get yourself checked out. You're in command of this boat and we need you because this is far from over."
The scariest part of all was she knew he was right about that, but her motherly instincts kicked in, "If you're mom is helping the medic who is watching the kids?"
"My father is with them," Will informed his wife.
"They're with Dazad?" In her mind that was tantamount to just leaving them alone with a pack of wolves.
"They're fine, Elle," Willian answered annoyed. "But you're not. Get to the checkpoint. Now."
She sighed and smiled, "Yes sir."
Bishop had made his way to the bridge and was greeted with emergency lights, dead consoles and looks of confusion on the faces of the bridge crew. He looked around, Somehow the bridge didn't look as crewed as it normally was a fact he put off to the escape pods launching. He made his way to the center seat and tapped the controls in the arm... unresponsive. "Status report. What works?"
Patton had been in the shuttle bay and made his way intro the Jeffries tubes and worked his way through the ship in a maze to get to the bridge. He was worried about Zoey, the crew and what condition the ship was in. There was nothing he could do at the moment but find out who was on the bridge and go from there. He finally dropped out of a Jeffries tube into the bridge just in time to hear Bishop speak.
After his wife had left the room, Willian turned to see the two new arrivals on the Bridge of Starfleet One. He answered the comment, "Very little. We're on emergency power and life-support at the moment. We have a skeleton crew still aboard the ship and the lifeboats are no where to be found nearby. Some people are missing, some are dead. Right now we need to focus on getting the ship back to operational status and getting a message to Starfleet."
He tapped at the dead console, "Nathan, I want you to get to Engineering. We need to determine their status and see what kind of help they need down there. Restoring life-support then main power is the priority. To do that we're going to have to find out who's still alive down there."
Bishop nodded at the Admiral's instructions. Trying to keep the shock and surprise off his face as the Admiral said some of the crew was missing. How could that be? He wondered but pushed the thought from his mind to concentrate on the here and now. "Of course Admiral, I'll give you a status report as soon as I am able to determine the state of Engineering."
"Patton, go with him," Willian ordered. "There are sure to be a lot of hazards as you are on your way so please be extremely careful."
"Yes Sir," Patton replied quickly. He turned to Bishop. "I'm ready when you are, Captain." He would keep his eyes open and help where ever he could.
Bishop nodded to Patton, "I'm ready right now, so lets get to Engineering and see how bad it is along with getting the ship back to some sort of operational status."
"Good luck and God speed," the Admiral said as he got underneath the Ops console and started trying to get power back to it.
Patton followed Bishop as they headed off to make their way to Engineering. He knew it was going to be a slow process as they would more than likely run into obstacles along the way.
[Main Engineering]
The sounds of metal creaking and complaining under strain, the occasional pop and sizzle sound and the voice of an A500, endlessly repeating, "System malfunction. Shutdown eminent." Were the first indications to Ash that, somehow she, and main engineering, had survived. Her second indication was the tremendous pain in her right shoulder and a general feeling that, she wasn't going to like why. "I don't really want to open my eyes." She said, aloud, to herself, but there was no avoiding it, she had to look. The Chief Engineer steeled herself for a second or two and then opened her eyes and wished that she hadn't. Ash stared at the 2 meter sliver of tritainium, like a giant scythe blade, that had her pinned to the deck through her right shoulder. She recognized the piece as part of the, primary, retaining ring for the Coaxial core and winced, more at the knowledge the coaxial core was severely damaged than the considerable pain she was in. She couldn't see much from where she was and didn't like her chances of being able to move from her current vantage point without some assistance.
"Any survivors?" She asked, realized she'd barely made a sound and tired again. "Hey! Any survivors?!" She yelled, immediately regretting the effort as excruciating pain ripped through her upper right torso and blackness crept in around the edges of her vision for a few seconds and then receded. "Note to self...don't yell with a punctured lung." She admonished herself and listened for any signs of life.
"System malfunction. Shutdown eminent." The A500 repeated.
From nearby another A500 approached the scene, carefully studying the Engine Room and the damage that they had sustained from their transit. The rudimentary android's bio-neural brain began an analysis of the situation they were in and began attempting to contact Galatea for more information on what they should do next. The problem was that it failed horribly. It sent out multiple pings to the AI only to have each and every one of them pop back unconnected.
"Unable to establish connection to Artificial Intelligence Monitoring Service. Activating secondary protocols," the pale skinned machine informed as it turned toward the Coaxial Core. "Initiation of repair sequence in progress. Priority repair: Primary Power Systems."
It paused as if receiving new data upon seeing a fire near the Propulsion Systems Consoles, "Fire detected. Fire suppression system failure. All personnel: please congregate at your nearest Fire Assembly Point. This is not a drill. Do not panic."
It was that district smell of burning and uncomfortable wall of heat that woke Lieutenant Blake. Coughing heavily he willed his dazed body to respond, the smoky haze beckoned him to return to the comfortable unconscious state he awoken from but instinct was provoking him to take action. Blinded by the smoke, hindered by his spinning head from striking the deck he could only assume Dylan scrambled onto all fours and scurried away awkwardly, his left arm unable to bear his weight.
“Ash!” he coughed. “Where are you?”
Ash stopped feeling in her, inventory by touch, of her utility belt at the voice of Lt. Blake. "Near what's left of the Coaxial Core!" Ash called and laid back for a second while her vision cleared. "I'm pinned to the deck like a bug! I have an He3 torch on my belt but I can't get to it!" She added, and nearly blacked out from the effort of yelling. The chief engineer now started working on actually unbuckling her utility belt so she could try to lift her hips and slip the belt off.
The pressing blackness and wafting smoke was disorientating as Blake staggered around engineering unsteadily. Lightheaded, sick to the pit of stomach and eyes weeping from smoke Dylan stumbled heavily a couple of times before finally locating the trapped Ash.
"What a shitshow," he commented landing heavily beside her.
Ash turned her head to look at Blake while she struggled to pull off her utility belt. "It could be worse..." The Chief Engineer, commented, quietly. "...glad to see you made it. Stay low." She added and patted the man on the leg. "Help me get this utility belt off, please?" She asked. "The torch is on the back. You'll have to cut this thing off, front and back. It's all that is keeping me from bleeding out internally." She informed him.
Crawling closer Dylan knelt over her and awkwardly tugged at her belt. "We need to do this together," he explained after a couple of attempts with the buckle. "My left arm is busted but I think we could manage the clasp together." He caught sight of the blood matting Ash' fur and swallowed down another rising urge to vomit. "Let's go slow and try not to move too much."
Ash nodded and spared a look at Dylan's left arm for a second or two. "We have a right and a left hand between us so we should be able to get this. If you can slide the retaining collar I'll pull the catch loose." She instructed and waited for the Lt. to do his part and she would do hers. The He3 torch would make short work cutting the titanium but there would need to be considerable care in the cutting.
"Alright," Dylan wiggled his hand into position and with Ash's nimble fingers they were successful in releasing the belt from her waist. Gently he eased the belt from her frame and tugged the torch from its snug pouch. "You sure this can cut through?" he asked.
Ash nodded, "It will..." She stated quietly. "...I'll hold the piece to keep it from whacking one of us and you cut it off about an inch from my fur. Don't worry if there's a little smoldering. Ignite the torch and make a quick pass across the surface of the metal and a second if it doesn't cut all the way through on the first pass." The Chief Engineer instructed.
The young man swallowed heavily concerned he'd injure the Chief: "Couldn't you...?" he started.
Ash shook her head. "I can't lean my head forward enough to make the cut myself. I know it is awkward, but I have to hold...you have to cut. The really dicey part will be getting me loose from the floor. I can't tell if the other end is wedged in a mount or vent hole or pierced the deck plating but it has to be fast on that end or, even as light as it is, the six feet of it sticking in the air would have fallen over. I don't represent enough mass to keep it upright." Ash explained.
Licking his lips nervously Dylan sparked the small torch into life. "One step at a time," he reminded her as much as himself. "Let's cut this section first."
"Cut it about an inch above where it goes through me and then you'll need to figure out where to cut it loose so that the rest of it falls away to the side and then we deal with cutting me loose from the floor." Ash confirmed.
As predicted the torch made quick work of the section pinning Ash to the deck plate, the structure creaked slightly but held fast. Switching off the flame Dylan heard over the din a new sound - footsteps and voices.
O'Sullivan followed behind Bishop as they made their way to Engineering. They ran into some injured crew, which they either sent along their way or quickly found someone to aid them as much as they could. Patton was relieved when they made it to engineering and came in alongside of Bishop.
"Someone's coming," Dylan explained to Ash before twisting and shouting out loud: "Over here, we need your help!"
Patton looked over at the others and hurried along side of them, following in the direction of where he heard them calling.
"Your presence has been logged," the A500 informed the new arrivals. It noticed the phaser on the waist of Commander O'Sullivan, "This is a breach of multiple safety directives. I assume you have a permit for that weapon?"
"Lieutenant Commander O'Sullivan," Patton identified himself, even though he was certain that had already been discovered. "I am the security chief and have many weapon clearances."
Bishop watched the droid walk off before he turned his attention to Blake. "What's the situation Lieutenant?"
"Stop pestering them and make yourself useful," Lieutenant Blake shooed the droid away before it could give either the Captain or Commander any more grief.
"We're very relived to see you. I don't think the A500's can get a handle on what just happened," he explained quickly. "There's so much damage but first I need your help to free Ash. I've cut away some of the structure that has her pinned down but its unstable. My arm is broken I think I can't really help much."
"Welcome to the party, gentlemen." Ash said, quietly, from her position on the floor. She seemed very calm for someone with a two inch wide sliver of tritanium protruding an inch or two out of her chest just a couple inches below her right shoulder. It looked as though the Tuansee could squeeze out from underneath the other debris that currently had her trapped but was staying put. "I'm pinned, like a bug on board." She added, indicating the piece of tritanium. "We have to clear some room to cut me loose from the floor."
"This is going to be a problem," the A500 stated as it observed the nearby fires. "Unprotected flames are extremely dangerous and entirely unadvisable in engineering spaces. I am built to withstand temperatures of up to 1210 degrees; however, you must evacuate from this area immediately due to the risks to your safety." The android looked at Commander Ash, "My sensors indicate that you are unable to evacuate due to your injuries. Do you require assistance?"
"Can you not tackle the fires?" Blake asked the droid before Ash could speak. "Before further damage is done? We can extract the Commander now with have company," he waved towards Bishop and O'Sullivan before coughing into his hand.
"That is the best solution," Patton spoke up. "We need to get her out of there and you," looking at the A500. "Should consider the fires your priority."
Ash eyed the A500 for a few seconds. "All A500's are to make fire suppression their priority." The chief engineer ordered, as loud as she could muster. She didn't know if her order, as the chief engineer, would carry any more weight than the others without the AI of Galatea providing guidance to the A500's.
"Service support ticket added to queue," the machine said monotone. "Your safety is a priority to us. Please be advised that we're experiencing a heightened containment hazard level today."
Blake rolled his eyes, if the situation wasn't so serious he'd probably laugh at the droid.
Bishop looked at Ash, "First things first. "What's your situation Ash? Why can't you move?" He asked the chief engineer.
Patton walked carefully back and forth, looking around Ash. He was concerned about moving her at all. But he doubted they could beam her to sickbay with the condition of the ship.
"I can't move from this spot because this..." And Ash pointed to the piece of tritanium sticking out of her that Blake had just cut free from the rest of the debris. "...is lodged in the deck plating. It needs to be cut loose from the deck." She explained, as if it wasn't obvious but, given her situation and injury, the commander could be excused for stating the obvious.
"So lets get to that. Is there anything else we need to know before we start? Like supporting the deck and you when we begin cutting?"
"We definitely need to find a way to keep her stabilized," Patton spoke up. "When we cut she will move and there is no telling what could happen to injure her even worse."
Ash looked around her as best she could and fought back the urge to cough. "Lets see, I'm on my back but not flush too the floor because my shoulders are on another piece of debris. That's good because it allows someone to get a hand under me with the torch to cut me loose. The problem is getting to that side of me. To do that, you'll need to cut this large segment of containment collar in 3 places on my free side so that the whole assembly shifts and falls away from my pinned side. Then, you can get the torch under me to cut the piece, that is jammed through me, loose from the deck. It will hurt, a lot, but as long as that piece doesn't get moved too much or pulled out of me, I should be fine, relatively speaking. Right now, it's acting like a plug, keeping me from bleeding internally too bad, and is keeping my right lung from collapsing." The Chief Engineer explained, quickly. "There's a refill for the torch on my utility belt if we need it and, Dylan, if you could get the soup can and tricorder off the belt we can try and get a handle on how bad things are while Captain Bishop and Commander O'Sullivan get me loose." She suggested.
Bishop acted quickly. "You heard the Chief, lets get her out of there, time's a wasting. " Bishop looked at Ash and spoke to her, trying to take her mind of her current situation. "What's this tin can your speaking of Ash?"
"The can is an engineering AI and a swarm of B-B sized sensor drones it controls that we can send out to assess the damage and we can tie the A500's into so they have a more sophisticated AI than their own to provide direction. The AI will feed the returns to the tricorder and we can use the tricorder to hot-wire the Galileo, if it's still in one piece, and utilize its transporters, sick bay, etc if they're operational as a stop gap until we know how bad SF1 is." She explained.
"Alright, what have we got to do to get them up and running? Can they assist us with your situation?" Bishop asked.
"Open the can. That will activate the Engineering AI and the drones so you can pour them out. They'll swarm around whomever holds the can while the AI interfaces with the nearest tricorder and then they'll disperse to survey damage through the entire ship. I increased the load capacity of the AI so there are 240 drones in the can. We'll get about 24 hours of continual use out of them but the AI will call back 80 of them every 8 hours to charge since that's all the charging docks there are in the can. The can will charge all of them 4 times before losing power. I'm kind of hoping we won't need them that long." Ash admitted. "the drones won't be much use to help me but, if the remote recall App on that tricorder can connect to the Galileo and the transporters are working, we can get someone beamed aboard. First order of business, I think, would be communications and get organized." She added.
Sliding the belt across the floor in front of himself Dylan pulled loose the tricorder and flicked it open for tugging out the strange canister Ash had requested. He turned it briefly inspecting it having pondered what it was when he relieved the belt earlier. The Commander's explanation was fascinating and could seriously help them by utilizing the smaller support craft in the docking bay.
Pinching the can between his thighs Dylan tried to work the lid free before with an exasperated sigh handed it to Bishop to pop open. Working one handed was proving much harder than he'd expected, luckily the healthy dose of adrenalin was keeping the pain at bay. "Would Galatea be affected later?" he asked.
"Galatea? Not at all. Galatea isn't an AI, she's an AS, and about 3 orders of magnitude more sophisticated than the engineering AI in the can. It does ONE thing and does it very well and has very sophisticated damage assessment capabilities and is exceptional at prioritizing and directing damage control and repair crews. The drones are, basically, autonomous tricorders without all the bulky stuff that allows us to hold something and have an interface. So, you'll see the interface for the AI and it will have identified the A500's as autonomous assets. Allow it to administer the A500's and they'll become a lot more efficient, immediately." Ash observed to Dylan while she tried to watch how Bishop and O'Sullivan were doing cutting away the section they needed to. "Then locate the recall app open it. It will detect any active IFF within range and give you a list." She added.
Tipping out the contents of the can onto the deck Dylan watched fascinated by the tiny bots as the whizzed around them. "I love how you always thinking Ash," he said lowly. "How come I've not heard of these critters before? Or did I snooze through that semester?"
"You didn't miss that semester, Dylan." Ash stated. "It is my spin on a remote sensor design from the 22nd century that went the way of the Dodo when the tricorder came into its own. I needed a way to get damage assessments quickly and efficiently without having dozens of personnel crawling through every inch of a ship with an engineering tricorder. Just took a little innovation and imagination on my part and, of course, Star Fleet hated the concept and barred its development. Officially, this device doesn't exist. The Ai was beyond cutting edge 30 years ago...better than anything else out there and still cutting edge, as far as AI's go and I think that's what killed the concept." Ash explained.
"What specifically do you want me to do?" Patton spoke up. "Help cut the deck?"
"No need to cut the deck plating, just the piece that has me stuck. Its been cut loose from the rest of the debris and now it just needs to be cut loose from the deck after you've cut the obstructions away." Ash explained.
As they struggled to work the unexpected happened. A series of alarms trilled throughout Engineering, "Attempted unauthorized access detected: Dilithium Storage Warehouse. Security Breach."
[Escape Pod: 14-A]
Jasmine had followed protocol, but her escape pod had not launched, like it was suppose. She could tell it was jammed, partially inside Enterprise, and partially in space. The klaxons were going off inside the tiny pod. She looked around at the personal in the pod with her.
As the dome lights continued to flicker on and off, Jasmine did her best to read the consoles several warning indicators. "Anyone an engineer or an operations officer?" Jasmine asked, as she started to look at the controls, to see how bad the damage was. There was little bit of smoke coming off one of the wall control panels.
“I’m afraid you lucked out with me,” Ryan spoke up. He was a security officer but then they all had some minor training. “I am however willing to take a look.”
Jasmine tried to move out of the way, however she felt a sharp pain in her leg. And noticed a small amount of blood coming out of a wound. She looked towards the wound, and noticed that a shard from the console that exploded had lodged into her leg. She tried to scoot her leg away from the console. But felt a sharp pain. She knew she needed to move, if he was going to have any chance of operating the controls.
Ryan saw a slight wince on her face and looked her over. He saw the shard lodged in her leg and moved over to her. “I’m going to pick you up and move you over there.” He said. “I’ll see what I can do for your leg and then look at the panel.”
"Just move me out of the way." Jasmine cried out in a pain. She was doing her best to ignore the pain. But it was difficult. She could feel his arms shift under her legs and arms, to support her weight. "We need to make sure there is no critical leaks or damage to this pod." Jasmine pointed out to him.
Ryan carefully picked her up and set her down out of his way. he went back and started working on the damaged console. He wasn't an engineer but they all had some basic engineering training, so he at least knew where to start. "It looks as though we aren't leaking but I am going to rewire this." He went to work, at times pausing to think for a moment.
"Can you tell if we are still attached to the Enterprise or if we can hail them?" Jasmine asked, hoping they were still in one piece, and that someone was still on board. Anywhere was better than here, at this very moment.
"I will be able to in another minute," Ryan said to her, his eyes on his work. "Just as soon as I get this done." He glanced over at her. "Keep pressure on your wound." He bet she hated him telling her that but he wasn't going to lose her. " They fell into silence and he sat back and sighed. "We are still attached." Ryan informed her with a smile. "That is good news."
"You got this, I have faith." Jasmine said, as she could sense the shock starting to really affect her. She felt her body, get cold. She did not want to tell him, she needed him to focus on getting her out of this mess. Not focusing on her leg.
The Daystrom A500 android known as B9 walked slowly down the corridor in the Saucer Module atypically. Created by Bruce Maddox and Estella Mackenzie at the Daystrom Institute, the A500 androids were not sentient. The A500 series were designed to serve as a labor force for Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards' efforts to mass produce Starfleet vessels in the 2380s. On First Contact Day in 2385 an A500 deactivated Mars' orbital defense system, allowing a massive attack that destroyed the fleet, the Utopia Planitia facility, and destabilized the planet's atmosphere. 92,143 lives were lost and Mars was made uninhabitable, leading to a ban on synthetic life and the A500s to be decommissioned.
It took some time, but synthetics were reintegrated into society and the ban lifted after it was discovered the Romulans were behind the attack and malfunction of the A500s. Still, many of the A500s had been left in storage. With growing concerns over repairs and a personnel shortage in Starfleet, Admiral Targaryen had instituted a pilot program to resume usage of the A500s on a limited basis. Starfleet One was one of the few vessels chosen to test them. To help maintain the effectiveness of the units it was decided that Galatea would administrate their activities through her enhanced positronic network. However, no one ever anticipated that Galatea would be down.
Now, B9 stumbled down the corridors like a Human that had a little too much to drink on a Friday night. On its internal displays a repeated message of UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION kept flashing. Default programming directed that the unit investigate any needed repairs and begin them; however, the status of Starfleet One had overwhelmed the bioneural connections. It was drowning in need and the waters were still rising.
It's synthetic eyes studied the corridor as it walked, noting that the panel for the lifeboat release had indicated a system malfunction. The machine stopped and stared at the panel as it tried to ascertain what to do next. Checking the panel it's snow white fingers quickly moved over the flickering panel. It took only moments until the doors slid open with a loud bang.
It looked into the lifeboat and saw people. It stared, blankly.
"I believe we are about to be rescued," Ryan said with a sigh of relief. He could have handled it but he wanted Jasmine to get treated as soon as possible.
The simplistic machine surveyed the passengers. It's sensors studied them, noting the injuries that it had detected. It, however, seemed unmoved, "Repairs complete. Service support ticket removed from queue."
"Ticket not completed, one injury please notify medical personal to the pod." Jasmine called out, in a tone of agony as she looked over to the drone. She waited for the drone to comply.
The drone paused and stared at the passenger. Reaching into a compartment built into its forearm it extracted an emergency transport unit and placed it atop the shoulder of the Commissioner. Pressing the device she dematerialized.
[Makeshift Sickbay, Starfleet One]
The Executive Officer's Office was a mirror image of the Captain's Ready Room adjacent to the Bridge. When Starfleet One had gotten pulled into the wormhole she had been in the Ready Room watching her grandchildren. Her son had asked her to join them on this mission as a babysitter and, when she signed on, she never imagined that she'd be pressed back into service like this.
With the ship severely damaged and adrift wherever this was she knew that there were going to be a lot of scared people aboard the ship, some of whom would be hurt. After checking her husband and the grandchildren, she chose to make herself useful and use her skills to try to make sure that the crew was cared for. With emergency power and life-support in place it would be a while before Sickbay got here - even though the Bridge was a primary emergency checkpoint - so she decided to take care of that for them.
Setting up in the Executive Officer's Office, Kiala had maneuvered the couch and chairs to provide a temporary examination room for any patients that she may receive. Her medical equipment was a lot more limited than it normally would be, but she would make due with what she had available to her. Too bad it was an emergency medical kit. Hopefully she wouldn't get drawn into having to do an emergency surgery in the interim.
It wasn't like she couldn't if she had to though. Kiala had had a long life and been many things. Among her various jobs she had been a medical officer for Starfleet several times, both as a Starfleet officer and as a civilian consultant once or twice. Kiala was the current name she chose to use - being El-Aurian she had a rather long life and Starfleet understood that - but it wouldn't be the name she used forever.
The tricorder beeped wildly as she stood near her patient, a Rhaandarite, studying a gaping wound in her shoulder. Rhaandarites were a lot like El-Aurians in that they were long lived - she was in her 90s and looked like a 20 year old - and that youth may help her. Problem was the lack of a universal translator wasn't doing much to help them right now. She typed at the controls quickly as she tried to find the source of the bleed in the woman's shoulder. She thought she had found it, but the bleeding was getting worse.
Normally the translator would convert the words into the person's natural voice and tone, allowing others to better hear and interact with the person. With it's damage the system was far from supportive of the person. Instead it translated her in a monotone, mechanical voice, "Am. I. Going. To. Die?"
Kiala looked up from the tricorder as it traced the wounds. She knew the truth, she knew what was going to happen, but there was always hope. If they were in sickbay this would be over now. If she had normal equipment for a medical officer this would be cleaned out and she'd be fine. Instead...
"Not if I have anything to say about it," she grabbed the osteoregenerator from the kit and ran it carefully over the wound for a third time. The field pulse flux shimmered a bit, which was strange, but she tried to compensate for it by adjusting the settings. It was just proving far more complicated than she ever anticipated. Checking the readouts she noted that, this time, the regeneration was taking. Her vitals were stabilizing.
Kiala smiled, "Not today."
"Thank you."
Kiala nodded and pulled back from the alien. "Rest for a few minutes then return to your post. We need all the help we can get." Stepping away she glanced down at herself and noticed the blood on her clothes. She grinned, thinking about how many ruined outfits and uniforms she'd had over the years. Never did she imagine it would happen again. Well not right now anyway.
The opening of the door to the office grabbed her attention...
It was Commander Nathan Hawkins being half dragged inside followed by the nose curling smell of burning flesh and singed hair. The Commander's uniform was still smouldering as he was bought inside. "Dragged him out of fire," his rescuer Lieutenant Libby Harper explained quickly. "He's still with us."
Kiala looked at the Operations Officer with tricorder in hand. Running the scan sequence she stared at the readouts, amazed to see that the Commander was still alive with such severe injuries. "How the Hell did he make it through this?" She adjusted the scan sequence, "These wounds are bordering on 4th degree in places." She grabbed a hypospray from her kit and tapped it against his neck.
She pecked at the controls on the scanner as she set aside the hypo, "This should stabilize him but we're going to have to get him to the Medical Bay as soon as we can." The Main Sickbay was in the Stardrive near Engineering and it would take forever to get him there. The Saucer Sickbay was only a few decks down. They could get him there if they hurried. But moving him wasn't a good idea. She sighed.
"I brought this too," Libby passed Kiala another emergency med kit. "Thought you could do with some extra gear and some help. Technically I didn't finish my training as a field medic but I didn't think you'd object too much."
The El-Aurian woman accepted the kit, "This is a start at least." She started checking the kit for things that could help her with this treatment. Bicaridine or Metorapan would be great to find in the kit. Problem was both were rarely, if ever, put in an emergency kit. She looked through the vials quickly. The dermal regenerator would help cosmetically, but it wouldn't be enough. She did pull the Lectrazine and injected it in the Commander's neck. At least that would help stabilize the cardiovascular system.
"We need to get a vial of either Bicaridine or Metorapan for treatment," Kiala explained. "The best bet to find it is Sickbay, but we're a little far from there. Some of the emergency dispensaries do have vials. Can you try to get to one?"
Harper paused mapping the ship in her minds eye trying to recall where the nearest dispenser was and the likelihood of it having the drugs required. She nodded: "Yes, I believe I can. Anything else you want?"
"To be there instead of here," she commented snarkily as she ran the regenerator over the injured officer. It was a coping mechanism that she had long had, but knew that it may have had some unintended consequences this time. She stopped, "Thank you for going. I'm sure that the Commander will appreciate it as much as I."
"Yeah, just hope he hangs on long enough to benefit from it." Libby replied softy neglecting to inform her of the dead she'd discovered in the process of rescuing Hawkins.
Moving toward the exit she nearly collided with another incoming walking wounded. "Admiral!" Libby called surprised. "Ma'am you best come in take a seat and let Kiala take a look at you before you fall down."
"I'm fine," Luzol said to Libby as she passed through the door. She realized that she sounded a bit harsher than she meant to. She winced a moment, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I know that you're just trying to help." She paused and forced a smile, "Carry on, Lieutenant."
"Yes Ma'am," Harper nodded allowing the comment to slide. Everyone was in the same battered boat there was no point being allowing off hand comments to sting or make a scene. Satisfied the CO was about to receive the medical care she needed Libby left in search of further supplies.
Admiral Luzol looked at Kiala as she approached the chair, gripping onto furniture for stability. "I am sure that Captain Bishop approves of you using his office?"
"Desperate times," Kiala answered as she activated the tricorder. "What's wrong? Well other than the blood dripping from your head?"
"Your son is a hypochondriac," she answered as she held a torn piece of her husband's uniform on her head to collect the blood. "He insisted that I come here."
A trilling alarm came from the medical tricorder, "Well looks like it's a good thing you got here when you did. You have a severe concussion, a hairline fracture, and a subdermal bleed."
"Now you sound like a hypochondriac," she protested. "I just need an analgesic for the headache then I need to get back to the Bridge."
"Nonsense. You need to get a little bit more than just a hypo for pain. You're on the border of neural shock." She pecked at the controls of the hypospray after sliding a vial into it. "I'm injecting you with 5% Hydrocortilene. That will help with the pain," she said as she tapped it against her Daughter-in-Law's neck. She ejected the vial and grabbed another, blue vial to inject. "20 milligrams of synaptizine should help to subvert the neural shock. But, we're going to need to get you to Sickbay for CPK enzymatic therapy."
The Admiral rested her head for a moment, closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind. The medications were taking hold quickly and her fog was already starting to clear. She knew that it wasn't going to last if she pushed herself too far too fast, but she also knew that the ship was in pieces and they were facing war with the Romulans if they failed in this mission. "I need to get back to the Bridge."
Kiala pushed back at the Admiral's shoulder and into the chair, "You need to remain there for observation for at least 20 minutes. Besides, I need to work on the bleed or you're going to either be right back in here or in a torpedo tube for the last great adventure." She picked up her Tri-laser Connector, "So are my grandchildren growing up without you?"
She sighed, "Fine... but let's get this over with."
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