Recovery (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 02 Oct 2012 @ 3:35pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Edited on on 02 Oct 2012 @ 3:42pm

2,218 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD 10 - 1415 hrs

Previously, on Recovery (Part 1)...

Looking between the two woman, Pola got to her feet. "I'll leave you both alone. If you've any further pain or you feel that some might not be right, I'll just be back in my office Captain. I'll also give the Commander a call." Smiling gently at Carlise, Pola moved off to give both women more privacy.

Delainey watched Pola go and then turned and offered a smile to Lirha. "I promise I didn't give her a secret signal to go away." In actuality, Carlisle was glad for the opportunity to speak to the Captain alone. "I expect for awhile, sheer force of will is going to keep the full emotional impact of your experiences at bay. You're still in shock I'm sure, and in many ways, that will protect you while you do the things I'm sure no one can stop you from doing. That said, I want you to know that when all of this hits you, you're not crazy, and there is a way to work through this. Talking about what happened is part of it, but I'll give you the tools to deal with your emotions first, so telling the story won't be so overwhelming."

In reality, the last thing Lirha wanted to do was talk about the torture she had just experienced. But the counselor had some valid points, and eventually Lirha would have to submit a report to Starfleet which detailed her capture and rescue. When that time came, no doubt some of her emotions would be involved, and it was reassuring to know that there were people like Carlisle who would be able to help her through it. "Thank you, counselor." she responded quietly.

And Now, the Conclusion

[ON]

John had been on the Bridge when the call had come in over the comm, it was hard enough for him to control his own joy that his CO had successfully recovered, let alone try to muffle the happiness of the crew members that had heard his conversation. Having headed straight to the turbolift, John walked straight into Sickbay and headed towards Lirha's side. Gingerly approaching, not wanting to disturb her too aggressively, or indeed catch himself on a piece of medical equipment, Holliday stood to attention.

"Ma'am. Good to see you're awake."

The captain looked up at her tall, brown-haired XO and smiled happily as she saw him alive and well. "Hello, commander." she said in a soft voice, locking her pair of green eyes onto him. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise Captain." The Commander replied, still trying to contain his relief that the Klingons hadn't done any permanent damage. As much as he would have loved to give her a hug to confirm that she really was intact, protocol didn't allow for such a thing.

"I'm glad that our rescue mission was a success. The loss of a command officer wouldn't have been acceptable. Plus the Klingons had it coming."

"Mmm...I suppose they did, didn't they?" she agreed with a sigh. "You know, Commander, that was a very risky decision to come and retrieve me...especially with so much at stake." she said, referring to Sienna and keeping her eyes on his. "But I am thankful, nonetheless."

"It was my duty. If I had been better watching the situation the Klingons never would have been able to get a transporter lock on our people. I owed it to you to at least try. It was a...calculated risk."

Jonathan had felt guilty since the moment they had first demateralised in front of him on the Bridge of the Galileo during that first confrontation. This entire rescue mission was his attempt to make up for that failure, and it seemed at least for now, it had been the right move to make.

Lirha nodded in understanding of his thought process. She didn't feel that it was his fault she had been taken in the first place, but understood his feeling of responsibility for the situation. It was something she was struggling to deal with as well, especially considering the number of casualties to her crew during the past engagements. "How is our ship managing?" she asked, changing the subject slightly.

"Damage is extensive...most primary systems have taken their fair share of hits, and a large proportion of our secondary systems are inoperable. Weapons and shields are currently repair priority but neither are coming along quickly. There are hull breaches on almost every deck, warp drive is inoperable but we have managed to restore impulse power. Suffice to say, we're going to need a very long stay in spacedock...."

"I'm surprised she's still in one piece." the captain admitted with another soft sigh, understanding the severity of the situation "But I suppose it's a credit to our fleetyard engineers for designing such a small but resilient vessel." she added, then paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I assume we are still in the Z'Tarnis Nebula?" she asked, unsure of the ship's current position.

"Err...yes...yes ma'am we are." Holliday replied, taking a moment to blink a few times and pull his vision back into normal view - probably just the strain of the last few days taking its toll, but the joy of knowing his captain was alive had managed to turn quickly into a feeling of confusion and disorientation.

"I err....I thought it would be prudent to remain within the nebula until you had recovered...the big chair is yours afterall...it's not my place to go moving the ship around."

She smiled then reached out and gently squeezed his arm. "I think the nebula is our safest place for now, I agree. Have we had any word from Starfleet regarding reinforcements? We can't stay in here forever..."

Shaking his head, Holliday wished that he had better news to give his captain, something to indicate that help might be coming, that there was some way they could get out of this situation without having to resort to the most desperate solution they had left.

"No ma'am...communications are useless within the nebula so we have no way of knowing if our distress call has actually reached anyone...if help is on the way, we're totally oblivious to it right now."

Lirha considered the situation in silence for a long moment before speaking again. "Have you given any thought to how we can escape from this nebula without being captured or destroyed?" she asked, knowing that her ship was slower and more damaged than the enemy cruisers still probably lining the nebula's perimeter.

Now came the moment that John had been dreading - informing his captain that he had taken a decision so large that it quite literally would decide the fate of the Galileo and her crew, no matter which way you looked at it. Sighing, he placed his hands behind his back, clasping them together firmly before he spoke.

"I've...given orders to integrate Sienna into our primary drive systems...we'll use it to escape....with a little help from the Dominion....I...didn't see any other option."

Another long moment passed as Lirha tried to make sense of what the lieutenant commander had just told her. Using Sienna was no doubt a controversial decision, but the mention of the Dominion was first and foremost on her mind. "The...Dominion?" she asked incredulously, waiting for him to explain.

"We...took aboard a passenger whilst you were sleeping - a Vorta....apparently he had been in stasis within this nebula for the past 14 years...his ship decided to explode on us - damn near took out the entire shuttlebay if we hadn't had some fast thinking...so far..he hasn't done anything to make me concerned....he wants asylum ma'am."

"Asylum?" she asked, still somewhat incredulously, then shook her head as she realized she had apparently missed a lot during the time she was away. "Nevermind...you don't have to explain right now." she said quietly, then sighed to adjust herself on the bed. "I assume you'll put it all in a report for me to read?"

"Already completed ma'am. I transferred it to your data storage area as soon as it was ready. It's....rather long, but it covers all developments since your...incapacitation in great detail."

Straightening himself up again, John wished that he had brought a copy of the report on a PADD with him in advance, at least that way he would have had something to present to his CO there and then.

"Suffice to say...a lot happened."

Having been monitoring the situation from her office, Pola made her way back over to Jonathan and Lirha, smiling slightly at the both. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm going to have to ask that you wrap things up. The Captain has only just woken and needs to rest."

The sudden arrival of Pola threw Holliday back into the real world and out of the thought patterns he had been having about whether or not his decision to begin the Sienna procedure was the right one. She was however, entirely right, their captain certainly needed her rest, and right now John seemed to just be adding more stress rather than subtracting.

"Very well....if you'll excuse me captain?"

He nodded, waiting for his permission to depart.

"Of course." Lirha replied, giving him a final smile before he left. Her eyes closed a bit at the doctor's mention of rest, and she let her head sink back into the biobed's semi-comfortable pillow. "I'll see you soon, commander." she said quietly, then looked towards Pola. "If you don't mind, I'd like to return to my quarters a bit later tonight...and sleep in my own bed for a change."

Making eye contact with Jonathan, Pola indicated she wanted to see him in her office for a moment before turning her attention back to Lihra. "We can reevaluate it in a few hours. I need to keep you under observation for at least a few hours. There were complications with your recovery which I want to ensure that is no side effects too. If everything looks fine, then releasing you to your quarters will not be an issue."

The captain nodded in reply. "I understand." she said simply, then let out a deep breath and closed her eyes as she drifted off back to sleep for a short while.

Walking towards her office, Pola indicated for Jonathan to now follow her. Entering the office, she instructed the doors close behind the XO. Balancing her hip on the table, she crossed her arms across her chest. "That woman is recovering from her heart having stopped and severe injuries we are lucky to have been able to repair. You need to keep her work load reduced, I cannot allow her back on duty for a number of days."

"Medical protocol takes precedence over the authority of a commanding officer...if you feel it necessary to relieve her of duty do so...but don't shoot her down before she's had a chance to get her feet back under the table."

John replied, leaning against the wall himself to take the weight off his feet from standing beside the biobed for so long. It was true that the captain had to let herself recover, but from the time they had spent in command of this vessel together, the XO knew that there was nothing short of a forcefield and armed guards that would keep Saalm from getting back in the big chair.

"I can minimise the workload that comes across her desk a while longer, but she's going to want to get back into routine without too much delay...she knows about Sienna, she'll want to be involved when we launch."

Rubbing a hand across her forehead, Pola looked back up at Jonathan. "Leave the medical aspect of things to me. I just need you to help me in this. At the end of the day, she's lucky to be alive after everything we went through to get her to this point. If we enable her to push herself we may not be lucky enough if she relapsed."

"Like I said...medical directives supercede command directives....just be prepared to follow through on anything you decide to do....and leave the workload management to me."

Nodding her head, Pola pushed herself off of her desk. "I'll let you go. Things have quietened down here so if you need help give me a shout. I'll be here in sickbay until the Captain is released. I guess Im still technically XO." Rubbing her forehead again, Pola just felt tired at this stage and was looking forward to this being all over.

"Let's just get some rest before the big push....let me know if you need anything Doc."

With a smile and a tap on the shoulder with an open palm, the XO left Pola in peace to head back to duty. Afterall, there was a lot to get done, in not a lot of time.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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