Give Me A Hand

Posted on Mon May 4th, 2020 @ 9:37pm by Lieutenant JG Neza Glenn & Lieutenant Jane Sinclair MD, DVM

1,783 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 2 - Love ORION Mistaken
Location: Sickbay

Neza had finally gotten away from the bridge and to sickbay. Her hand was still numb, but at least the pain medication Xenia had given her earlier was still working. She wasn't sure who all would be here, as she'd waited until she absolutely had to go before going. But now she didn't have a choice, and was curious how bad the damage was.

Sickbay was busy. Many were stunned from phaser blasts. Some were in shock from things they’d done under Orion influence. Others were reacting badly to the antidote, allergic to it maybe. And then there were those injured in the battle.

Jane was busy with patients, but saw the tall science officer through the crowd. “Neza!” she called. She moved through the busy sickbay and saw the injured hand. “What happened here? Are you okay? Come along, let me take a look.” She gently touched Neza’s shoulder and directed her to a biobed.

"Phaser...blast hit the phaser that was in my hand but I think I got hit too. Xenia gave me something up there but its numb, completely numb."

“Okay, sit down,” Jane said, gently patting the biobed out of habit. Once Neza was seated, Jane took her by the wrist, careful not to touch anything burned or marred. She examined it closely. “Okay, the burn is pretty severe, and there’s a lot of flesh damage here, too. Looks like shrapnel from the phaser that you were holding.” She looked into Neza’s eyes and smiled. “It should be alright, though. I’m going to give you something else for the pain, which won’t counteract with the painkiller that’s in the Main Bridge first aid kit. Then we’ll see how bad this is, okay?”

Neza nodded. "Sounds good. Just want to be able to feel my hand again honestly. Wondering if I'll end up bandaged or something after this is all done."

Jane retrieved a hypo from the table next to the biobed, inserted a vial of bicaridine, and injected it into Neza's forearm. "Local anesthetic," she explained. She set the hypo down and pulled out a medical tricorder. She hovered it over Neza's injured hand. "So the good news is the burn isn't too bad. Second degree, but on the lower end of it. Dermal regenerator and some ointment should help." She adjusted the settings on the tricorder, and her brow furrowed. "There are some shrapnel shards in your hand, though. See that chair over there?" Jane gestured to a chair next to a desk. "Go sit there, and I'll be with you in a minute, okay?"

Glancing to the chair, Neza nodded. "I suppose I can do that. I figured there was something in there with the way that phaser exploded." She got up and went over to the chair.

The doctor found the necessary tools and brought them to Neza. She pulled up a stool and took a seat. “Okay, step one, another examination with the tricorder.” She closely scanned the injury and nodded. “Okay, there it is. It isn’t big, but it’s deep in there.” She looked up at her little sister and smirked. “That’s what she said, eh?”

Fake gasping, Neza gave a small smirk. "Indeed, that is what she said." She couldn't help but glance at the tricorder. "Who knew a phaser getting shot out of your hand could do so much damage."

"It's a damn lucky shot to have done only this much damage, actually," Jane said. "For the shot to have destroyed the phaser, it had to have been quite powerful. A stun shot would have only burned you and not exploded the phaser. And if it had hit your hand, I'd be fitting you for a prosthetic."

"He was being controlled so...who knows what was actually going through his mind. But, given that thought, I suppose I should be thankful it only hit the phaser and not me. Else you'd have other things to be worrying about, maybe beyond a prosthetic."

Jane looked up at Neza, eyes suddenly a bit puffier and wetter than before. “I’d hate to lose my little sister like that. And I’m sorry you almost lost your big sister. I’m sorry I gave in so readily to Vivyra. She was...my God she was addictive. I lost myself and hurt you all, didn’t I?”

Neza shook her head, "No, don't be. She tried to pull me in too, but I was so focused on keeping you two together that I lost sight of everything else."

"Well, I'm glad I had you looking out for me," Jane said, "even if it was in defence of something dangerous and unhealthy. But neither of us knew that." She picked up a very thin set of tweezers. "All of your pain receptors are dulled, but you might feel a bit of pressure. You should probably look away now."

"You're no fun," Neza fake pouted and turned away. "We were all fooled, Jane. What were we supposed to do? I understand why she had a hold on you though, it was hard when she was close to me to think straight."

“It’s still hard to think straight,” Jane agreed. She slid the tweezers into Neza’s injury slowly and carefully. She didn’t want to aggravate it or cause undue discomfort. “I’ve been giving myself multiple daily doses of the pheromone blocker. Some of us haven’t come down off the pheromone yet. I can’t sleep without medicating yet. Neza, it still hurts so much.”

"I just haven't been focused at all. Trying to figure out also why it was making me more angry than anything. I don't know, I wish I knew why this was bugging me so much."

A thought came to Jane's mind. "Neza, before this thing with Vivyra started, I was starting to track something. A number of crew, myself included, kept having strange bouts of déjà vu. It often made us feel sad or angry or frustrated. Have you had any déjà vu recently?" She felt the tweezers clasp the piece of metal in Neza's hand.

Neza looked back over at Jane with concern on her face. "More than I want to admit. It is...strange. I feel like I've had two very serious relationships on this ship since getting here, but now neither one of them exist."

Jane nodded silently and made a face as she focussed intently on the work at hand. "Tray!" she called out. Behind her, an orderly came with a metal tray in hand. The doctor gently slid the piece of shrapnel out of Neza's hand, careful not to cause any more damage. Once it was clear of her skin, she clamped down on the open wound with her thumb. The shrapnel made a satisfying clink sound when she released it into the tray.

As she began closing the wound with a dermal regenerator, she resumed speaking. "I feel the same way, actually. I have flashes of memory of a relationship. Not with Bec or Vivyra, but with someone else on this ship. It feels so real...but I know it isn't."

"Same thing. Mine...falling deeply in love with two different people. But I've even searched the computer for them, they don't exist." Neza looked to Jane, and then her hand so she had something to focus on. "Why the hell would we all be having these kind of memories?"

“I don’t know,” Jane said. “I’ve been looking into this. Or, I was, until Vivyra interrupted that. But I think it’s getting worse.” She looked to her friend and little sister and smiled. “What were their names?”

"Cole and Steffan," Neza said with a small shrug.

“Steffan?” Jane went silent a moment as a thought scratched at her mind. “I’ve never heard the name Cole, but Steffan...I have the same déjà vu feeling.” She took a deep breath as she finished closing the wound. “Do you know the name Zoe?”

"Cole was chief medical officer before you, at least in my memories. As for the name Zoe? It sounds...vaguely familiar. Why?"

“Neza, I was Chief Medical Officer since launch date,” Jane affirmed. “There was never a CMO before me. As for Zoe, she was chief of security. But Bec is chief of security, and always has been, right?”

Neza shook her head, "That's just it, not the way I remember it. I remember someone else at launch. Technically, I remember not always being chief of science too. But...I only remember Bec being chief of security."

"All done," Jane said as she finished one last look at Neza's hand. "You might be a bit sore for a day or two, once the painkillers wear off. If it's a sharp pain, come back right away." She gently took Neza's good hand in one of her own. "I have an idea. Let's look out for each other on this. We'll tell each other if we have any other strong memories of people who don't exist, alright?"

"You read my mind, Jane," Neza said as she wiggled her fingers around a little on her healed hand. "This whole thing has me feeling uneasy."

“Same. But we have each other, and we have Bec and Cindy and the others.” Jane let out a long sigh. “I have a lot more apologies to give. I have an idea for Bec, but the rest of them I just need to talk to one on one. Oh my God...I’m remembering how I acted with Xenia.” Another sigh. “I have a lot of rebuilding to do.”

Neza frowned. "I think many people do." She wrapped Jane in a hug. "Maybe a girls night might be in order later."

“Oh God, yes,” Jane said into her sister’s shoulder. “You, me, Bec, Xenia, Cindy. Drinks and games and gossip.”

"We all need it. Clear our heads, or drink...or both?"

“Both.” Jane nodded vigorously. “Absolutely both. Let me look at our calendars and see about finding some time when we’re not all busy. Maybe in a few days.”

"The sooner the better, Jane. I think we all have things we need to get past, and a girls night might be the best thing for it."

“Agreed. Well, back to work with you, Neza. Come find me if your hand hurts again.”

"Of course. I'll try to be careful with it, but there are repairs that need doing. Thank you, sis."

“Anytime.” With that, Jane smiled and returned to work, while in her head planning a girls’ night.

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