Tranquility for the Tranquil (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 29 Jun 2023 @ 5:46pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Petty Officer 1st Class Ember Locksley & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 2nd Class Leon Inaros & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen & Lia Quil & Marcus Mulder & Verity Thorne

1,884 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 11, 0805 hrs

[ON]

Once again, Dr. Alexion Wylde was reminded of how inadequate the deck space dedicated to Sickbay was. Perhaps Starfleet had felt that a ship of scientists wouldn't get themselves too many scrapes. He knew better.

Quarantine of the returning away teams had been lifted when they were fully satisfied they hadn't brought anything unexpected back with them. Team members with just a few cuts and a dire need for sleep had been sent to their quarters to rest. So only those with more serious injuries had been transferred to Sickbay.

One bed was still taken up by the now sedated Darius, recovering from surgery, the little bouncing lights on the screen next to him showing he was stable. That left two beds and a collection of stolen chairs both in the bay and outside in the corridor for the remaining team members, although the ones in the corridor now sat empty with them having whittled the line down.

Mulder was sat by Quil, watching her with a slight frown. He was shivering, but he knew that was from a fever. And now they were here, it was only a matter of time before treatment would be done and after that? Who knew.

Lia could sense his thoughts. It was hard to miss them. She looked to him, not quite to his face, but she was frowning with the shared concern. Their work was sanctioned. But...they'd achieved so much, and it was in danger of being lost in the archives. "We made it this far together," she said quietly, not only meaning their scientific achievements, but simply staying alive in that hellish reality. "It wouldn't make sense to separate now."

He reached out to take her hand, holding it for a moment. "I am not leaving you," he said, meaning it. He had not bonded to a person for so long, it seemed...strange. But he had bonded to her over the years.

"Dr Mulder," Wylde moved over, carrying a padd and motioning for him to join him on the other biobed. "I take it that the veil over your eye is not a fashion piece," he slapped the bed firmly to indicate he should sit down, getting ready to scan him.

Marcus looked at the biobed, frowning before he stood and walked over. He got on it and lay down, reaching to take off the make shift eye patch. "I...got something in it. From that place. So I ripped it out." The words were said in a detached way, as if speaking of the weather. What was left behind was slight swollen and red, yet sunken in.

Wylde glanced away from the readouts, stealing a look of mild surprise at how he spoke about it. It should have been refreshing, for the doctor who would have been happier without patients. But the casual tone was mildly unsettling. He pressed a hypo to his neck before leaning in close to look for himself, shaking his head as he frowned at the slight dark edge. "I'm sure you realise there is nothing to save here," he replied quietly, starting to carefully steralise the area.

"I made sure of it," Mulder said firmly, letting him do what he needed to do. "I am fine. You should look at Doctor Quil."

"You just do what Doctor Wylde tells you," Inaros said as he came over, giving a small smile before he walked over to Quil.

Wylde chuckled gruffly, shaking his head as he carefully started to heal the tissue. "Did you hear that? Doctor to doctor, just do what you are told," he said, but there was a slight lilt in his voice. "Hold as still as you can, I need to get this healed and we'll sort the infection out..."

"I'm Nurse Inaros," Leon introduced himself to Quil, watching the woman before he looked over towards Doctor Locksley. He then looked back at the woman. "We'll take good care of you. If you just relax, I'm going to do a scan, and we'll take a look at your hand and get that sorted."

Lia watched him with a slight frown, holding her arm to her chest, clearly unsettled by the whole thing. "There's so many...minds in here..."

He nodded, watching her before he started to scan her. "Focus on me," he said, because he could recognise a Betazoid easily enough. "Just focus on me, Doctor Quil. We're going to take good care of you. And I wouldn't lie about that..." he glanced at her, not meeting her eyes...he had noticed she was actively avoiding eye contact.

Lia hesitated before carefully lowering the arm, letting it out of the sling. There was a piece of bloodstained fabric wrapped around her wrist, where once had been a hand. Most of the hand was now gone, leaving only a little mangled flesh and bone beyond the wrist. At some point, some kind of laser had been used to crudely cauterise the remaining tissue. "We did out best...but bacteria will always thrive where we cannot," she said, as if referring to one or any of her experiments.

Inaros gave her a reassuring smile, nodding as he looked at it. "I'm going to give you something for the pain," he said, already reaching out for the hypo. He put it against her neck, before putting it to the side. He had seen injuries before, lost limbs and that sort. "I'll prep you, and Doctor Locksley will heal it." She seemed as someone who liked facts. "I think long term, a biosynthetic hand will most likely be the best if you wish to have the same use as your biological hand."

"So long as I can work," Quil shook her head with an absent frown as she looked down to the remains of her lower hand and wrist. "There's so much more to be done."

"Donald?" Verity moved to him, offering a small but reassuring smile as he knelt down at his chair, setting the tray close. "Let me take a look at those burns," he offered, running the tricorder near enough to his face, but not so close as to be uncomfortable.

"Hey Verity." Donald said recognising the man even though a chunk of his vision was impaired as parts of his face had swollen up. "Remind me not to short circuit an EPS relay while I'm face deep in the panel next time."

Verity grinned at that, shaking his head as he made sure to keep his tone casual, no concern allowed to creep through. "I bet you showed it who's boss though, hm?" he assured, pressing a hypo to him to help with pain.

"Oh yeah." Donald smiled and chuckled but then winced as his face ached. "It started working perfectly after I showed it who was boss."

Verity lifted the regenerator, starting with his face as he could imagine that was the most painful of the areas. "It's going to be a little tender and sensitive for a while, even after it's healed. After you get some rest, you should come back when it's a bit quieter, just to check it's looking good. It might not feel it, but you're lucky...your eyes are okay."

"Managed to close my eyes just in time, didn't manage to get my hands far enough away quickly enough though." Donald held up a hand that was red raw and rather swelled up.

"We'll get these patched up too," Verity assured, nodding with a frown at what he'd gone through. "You're doing great. I'd be an all out mess," he chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"If you've seen my medical record you'll see why, I'm always getting cuts, bruises burns and all sorts." Donald told him, his bad luck with injuries hadn't changed since arriving on the Galileo.

Though she had left the staff on board to treat the injured Allyndra herself had retreated to a holodeck. She used the medical override command and set up her own private sickbay. Though her wing would eventually heal itself there was something satisfying about knowing she could fly again. She was tempted to change the deck but deiced that given the limited facilities aboard to leave it.

=^=Allyndra to sickbay. I have set up a holodeck sickbay for use if anyone wishes. I can attend anything you wish to send my way.=^=

Locksley glanced up to the voice, nodding with a small smile at having more hands on deck. She just hoped Allyndra wasn't pushing herself after whatever had gone on there. =^= Beaming Vansen over, =^= she responded, nodding to the man that had dried blood down the back of his head, ordering the transport.

Vansen blinked as he materialised on the holodeck. For a moment he was frowning with disorientation before he smiled as he saw Warraquim, watching the woman for a long moment. "I take it you've gone from patient to doctor?" he asked, but sat down with slightly shaky legs. Adrenaline had finally wore off.

Allyndra literally hopped flew to catch him before he hit the floor. "Yes, I figured we needed to handle more than those from the away team. Set up the holodeck as a secondary sickbay, got myself taken care of. Now let's get you fixed up." She noticed the dried blood as she helped him get settled on a bed. "Let's take look shall we?"

He nodded, smiling weakly as he looked at her. "I'm alright, just...keep shivering. Could be shock, could be my medication...I took a lot down there, adrenaline burns though it. Can't shift this headache either..." he gestured to the back of his head. "It's also itchy where that...stuff...latched onto me."

"You feel a little cold. Let's get you settled and put some heat on you and let me take a look at that wound." She got him settled and she had to admit that while she examined and began the healing of the wound the warmth felt good to her as well. "Some shock, the rest is not horrible and we have you with a tissue regeneration going on. It's time to relax. Everything here is fine now."

He took a deeper breath, nodding as he closed his eyes at that. "I am not sure anything will be fine," he finally said. "What we saw, what we...experienced...?" he opened his eyes to watch her. "It'll take me a bit before I sleep well."

"I know what you mean. Try to rest. It's all any of us can do now." She had her own nightmares of the place.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

PO2 Leon Inaros
Nurse
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

Dr. Marcus Mulder
Scientist
Cold Station 21
[PNPC Rice]

Dr. Lia Quil
Scientist
Cold Station 21
[PNPC Blake]

CWO3 Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

PO1 Ember Locksley
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

Verity Thorne
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Constantin Vansen
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

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