Not The Food But The Content (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 26 Aug 2012 @ 10:49pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl

2,532 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 08 - 0500 hours

[ON]

Pinching the bridge of her nose between her finger and thumb, Pola hesitated before rounding the corner which would lean her up to sickbay. She'd picked this point as after this corner she'd be faced with the overflow patients who'd they had no room for in the main area. She'd been on the go since 1100 hours. Last time she'd seen the time it had been 0400 hours when she was heading into the senior briefing, the one from hell. Somehow she'd ended up as temporary XO until such a time as the Captain was rescued. Her missing in action, and the death of Remington had everything falling the way it had. 4 days as CMO and everything was happening at once.

Taking a breath, Pola pulled herself up straight, almost to attention. Instinctively her hands went to straighten her jacket before remember she'd left it open with the blood splatter. Walking forward she stopped at some of the patients, ensuring that there were as comfortable as possible and knew that they had not been forgotten about. Entering into main sickbay, she looked around for Kohl, looking for the nurse to see how sickbay was doing in her absence.

Kohl was sitting on the floor, and the only thing he was nursing was a half-eaten sandwich. The foot traffic and the walking wounded had all shuffled back to their stations some time ago. The facilities in the Intensive Care Unit were still maxed out, and there were patients recovering in the offices and the labs and the passageway, but there wasn't a queue winding out the door any longer. Andreus Kohl was sitting on the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him, and his back was pressed against the bulkhead beneath the pharmacological replicator. As he stared out across the ICU with glassy, vacant eyes, he clutched a sandwich to his chest. He couldn't remember what was in it anymore. He had been woken up half-way through a nap, just a little while ago, and he was still groggy. Maybe even moreso than when he first woke up. He was probably suffering from sleep inertia, he supposed. Kohl hoped the deliciousness of the sandwich would help.

The gentle woosh of the Sickbay doors moving aside brought new focus to Kohl's mind. There was a new patient, he assumed. Kohl clomped the soles of his boots to the deck and he bolted upright, but the suddenness of the movement sent his arms pinwheeling until he found his balance. By the time Kohl was on his feet, his eyes connected with Pola's, and he let out a blatantly visible sigh of relief. Not a patient. He tossed the rest of his sandwich into the replicator and traded it for the PADD he'd abandoned on an equipment tray.

Striding through the ICU, Kohl nodded a formal greeting to Pola and said, "Doctor Ni Dhuinn" with relief in his tone as well. He spoke quickly, hoping to capture her attention for a minute before she dove in to a patient's program of care. "The EMH managed to stabilize Rothgra and we've discharged these patients" --He showed her the names on his PADD-- "But I'd like to ask you about a physical examination you performed..."

Taking the PADD, Pola found herself pinching her eyes again to try clear them as she started reading through the notes, delighted that there was a good number of people who had been discharged on medical orders of light duty and a few cases where full duty would be possible. Hopefully this would mean that the rebuilding of the ship would progress faster. "Which physical is that? I've done quite a few." Pola smiled slightly as she kept her focus on reading the PADD.

Smiling faintly at Pola's joke, Kohl replied, "Ensign Kiri Cho. I reviewed her medical logs when she came for treatment last night." Considering the long-term care of one of their patients, thinking beyond triage, Kohl said, "I understand you had concerns about her nutritional habits?"

Pola sight moved to Kohl as the name did indeed ring a bell in her head. Those bars with the chief in the mess gave her to help Kiri regulate her intake of ration bars better. "Of course I remember Kiri. Has something further happened to her?"

Nodding, Kohl said in measured tones, "I treated her left arm for an electrical burn. She was presenting with the symptoms of low blood volume. When I interviewed her, she admitted to dehydrating herself unintentionally, but I believe that was a significant cause of her succumbing to hypovolemic shock. I left her in the medical lab for a blood transfusion and rest." He swept a hand in the direction of the lab, but he looked to Pola with concern etched across his face.

Frowning at the information she had just been given, Pola picked back up her PADD and reconfigured it to show her Kiri's file. Moving towards the medical lab, she found herself walking, talking and reading. "Did you speak to her any further about your findings? Have you checked on her since moving her to the lab?"

Following Pola's lead, Kohl shook his head. "No, she lost consciousness," he said, and it didn't sound as if he were second-guessed his decision. "She needed the rest."


Medical Laboratory

Kiri awoke with a start, not since she was a child had she just fallen asleep without planning for it. Her arm was healthy she felt much better if still tired, she had barely rested. Sitting up she shifted her bare left arm close to her body, feeling exposed. Her voice was dry as she still hadn't had anything to drink, rasping the words, "Computer, lights." Gingerly she stepped down from the bed, checking to see if Kohl was still around, even though them lights were out. Last thing she remembered she'd said thank you to him, there were no orders for her to stay or even hints that she should. Her newly healed skin tingled slightly, being very sensitive. Smooth to the touch, yet to grow a fine, almost invisible layer of hair to insulate it. Acting almost as if she was breaking out she walked towards the door, eyes wide. With her uniform damaged she had to go and change, hopefully she wouldn't run into anyone else before getting back to deck three. Looking cautiously out she took a deep breath before leaving.

The doors from the ICU to the laboratory slid open and the emergency lighting returned to their full illumination. As Pola and Kohl hurried into the lab, the only movement they saw was the other doors to the corridor closing. Kiri was gone. "Ah," Kohl said dryly. "Damn it."

Around around her, Pola couldn't help but state the obvious, "You sure you left her here Andreus?" The Doctor smiled slightly as she tried to see the humour in this. With all the injuries happening at the moment, it would figure a patient would check themselves out but why did it have to be the one they were most concerned about?

Kohl was already crossing the laboratory towards the doors for the passageway. "She didn't want to come to Sickbay in the first place," Kohl said by way of explanation. "I asked her about her work to distract her from the pain. Everyone loves talking about work. But she was fixated on returning to her duty station, and repairing the sensor array, regardless of her own physical needs." Kohl strode through the open doorway and looked both ways down the passageway. He called out, "Kiri?"

Kiri hadn't gotten very far, at her gingerly pace she had only rounded the corner when the others came after her. Her name rang out through the corridor, freezing up she moved to the wall. Her breathing became slightly jagged, should she not have left? She felt fine now, well better. She'd been left alone, no one was working on her and it was oh five hundred hours. That meant she was in trouble, she wanted to hide from that. She wasn't allowed though. Looking extremely embarrassed she returned, slowly reappearing around the corner. She remained silent, nothing she'd say would help.

Seeing the runaway patient reappear, Pola smiled softly. She remembered from Kiri's medical that sometimes the scientist tended to be a little skittish in someways. "Hey Kiri. You ok? You had us a little worried there when we found you gone."

Pola was someone who so far Kiri hadn't gotten along with, the first and only person on the ship she felt that way about. Edging closer to the other two she turned quite red, "I feel okay," She was trying to hide her exposed arm still, "Sorry for falling asleep, I thought it was okay to leave." She had messed up somehow, she was causing problems.

"My fault," Kohl said warmly. He smiled, but it didn't light up his whole face. He held his ground, only a few metres from the lab. Since Kiri was coming towards them, albeit slowly, Kohl didn't want to give any impression of giving chase. "I didn't explain your program of care. I thought I would have time before your discharge, but my own sarium krellide power cells are low," he teased.

She was starting to worry that something else was wrong with her, something they were afraid of telling her. Why else would they want her to remain here now she was able to walk around and use her arm again? As for what Kohl said, she got that it was meant to be a joke, to her it fell rather flat though. Maybe it was that krellide cells were over two centuries old, she didn't come across them very often. Maybe it was because she too nervous, keeping her stance small she remained still, trying to avoid looking them in her eye.

Observing Kiri while Kohl attempted to talk her around, the Doctor found it difficult to keep her smile. She could see the girl's avoidance of eye contact and her general body language seemed to indicate that she could run at any moment. "Kiri...before any patient is discharged we need to talk to them. You've just had bad burns repaired and we want to ensure are you fully ok before releasing you back to duty."

She just wanted to get back to work, there were people worse than she was. Her reluctance showed for just a second before she resigned herself to it, if they were that desperate to do so it would waste more time resisting. However she looked or acted, she wouldn't run away, her thoughts were of work and being useful. Shame setting in she came closer still, just wanting to get everything over with. Still trying to hide her exposed arm from view, "I'm sorry."

Seeing how Kiri seemed to be hiding her arm, Pola moved her hand to pull it through her hair. She was almost tempted to perhaps see if Kohl on his own could manage this but if Kiri was still having medical issues relating back to her consumption of rations, that would fall into her category. "Why don't you come back with us Kiri and we can get everything tied up?"

Not wanting to waste a second more of their time Kiri complied further, moving forward slightly more and submissively allowed herself to be lead by them, her voice shaking slightly, "Okay." What could it be if it took both of them and was so serious? Was she dying? Maybe. Maybe she was just sick but didn't know it. It could be anything.

"Once we make our last checks and share our recommendations," Kohl said, as he fell into step beside Kiri, "We'll get you back to the sensors right quick."

Her fatalistic streak came to an end as soon as it started with Kohl's words, giving him a slightly comforted look of relief. Though, what more were they going to recommend, Kohl had already told her about water and seemed okay with her increasing her rations.

Stopping for a moment, Pola allowed Kiri to catch up with Kohl in order to give the two of them a few moments alone. She just acted like she was immersed in the PADD in her hand.

Leaving Pola in the corridor momentarily, Kohl lead Kiri back into the laboratory. He swept a hand to one of the temporary biobeds, and he asked, "How are you feeling, Kiri?" He looked her in the eyes briefly, before he started wandering the laboratory in search of a tricorder. "Did I do good work with your arm?" Kohl asked over his shoulder.

With a forced smile she answered, "I feel fine, your work was excellent," She still didn't want him to look at it. Her aversion to exposed skin was something she had since she was a little kid, though her main fear didn't really apply to her arm. Over the years it had grown, covering almost her entire body.

Pivoting on his heel, Kohl turned towards Kiri with a medical tricorder clutched in his hand. He pointed the tricorder in Kiri's direction and touched each of the contacts to initialize a scan of Kiri's biofunctions. Although he kept his eyes on the tricorder's display, he said conspiratorially, "Doctor Ni Dhuinn is going to talk to you about your nutritional habits. We're concerned your dehydration contributed to your illness last night. Are you ready for that?"

Kiri was getting worried again, why? She'd already talked to him about it, something that was silly but with so much else going on she'd forgotten, people had died and the Klingons could be back at any second. It didn't really matter why, she wasn't going to argue but she did look uncomfortable, "Okay," Nodding her head very slightly.

Kohl looked at Kiri, and he said, "I'm going to remove the nanites from your arm while she speaks with you." --He showed her the face of the tricorder for emphasis-- "Your nerve damage is healed up now. Let me know if you notice any numbness, pain or changes to your range of motion." He backed away from Kiri enough to trigger the door sensors. The doors to the passageway slid open, giving Pola the cue to come in now.

Hearing the doors open from where she'd been walking back from her office, Pola was glad that she had managed to time that well. Under one arm she carried a container containing the ration bars which Ansen had given her for Kiri. Smiling softly she walked across to where Kohl and Kiri were gathered. "How's everything looking Andreus?"

"The rest served her well. Kiri's arm is much recovered. I was just about to retrieve the nanites," Kohl said. He used the controls on his tricorder to began the sequence that would instruct the nanites to congregate. He looked to Pola, and once he managed eye contact, he nodded that she should go ahead. Kiri seemed ready.

[TBC]

To be continued


Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

Ensign Kiri Cho
Science Officer/Sensor Specialist
USS Galileo

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