Meanwhile in Sickbay

Posted on Sun Jan 20th, 2019 @ 3:32pm by Lieutenant Jane Sinclair MD, DVM & Lieutenant JG Ayden Kennett

1,608 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Klingons on Starboard Bow
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: 2261.189 2218

The hit shook Legacy pretty hard, but it could have been much worse. Casualties began to pour into Jane's sickbay. Her team was as prepared as possible, given that it was their first real catastrophe and they had only left Earth a few days earlier. There hadn't been enough time to run any serious drills with them. Jane would need look back at today and note where the team was strong and where improvements were needed.

As the first patients came in, Jane began directing them to biobeds where other doctors and nurses were waiting to help. She did a quick visual survey of each to assess the type of injury and its severity. Reports also came over comms, advising sickbay of injuries across the ship. She dispatched a pair of nurse-practitioners to help patients who couldn't make it into sickbay.

A young woman with a deep cut above her eyebrow was sitting on the biobed in front of Jane closest to her desk. The hit knocked her off her feet in the corridor and she hit her head on the doorframe she was trying to grab. Messy, but not serious. With no evidence of a concussion or cracked skull, she was sent on her way.

A voice came over the comm. =^= Doctor Cole, =^= followed by a pause, and then, =^= Doctor Sinclair, how many people are out for the potential next battle? Has Lieutenant Kennett made it there yet? =^=

Jane ran to the comm panel on her desk. =^= Jane here, Captain. Twenty-seven injured, but reports are still coming in. So far nothing serious. Mostly burns from power surges, a few cuts and scrapes from being tossed around, some concussions. Could be worse, Cindy. As for Lieutenant Kennett...here he is now. =^=

The Captain continued. =^= Thank you, Jane. Just be warned, we may have more serious casualties coming in. We're going to cause some trouble up here. I hope to make your job as easy as possible, though. =^=

=^=Understood,=^= Jane said and closed the channel. She met the young man at the door. "What happened, Lieutenant?"

Ayden had felt dizzy his whole way to sickbay, but had made it there. He put his hand on his head where the bandage was at least holding. "Head plus deck. Be...the first officer fixed me up but the captain told me to come down here. Likely concussion." He blinked trying to clear the double vision.

“Good call,” said Jane. “You’re no good up there with a concussion, Ayden.” She took his arm and helped him walk to the closest biobed. “Lie down,” she ordered.

Jane grabbed the nearest medical tricorder and scanned his head. Her face soured. “Well I can tell tou’re dizzy and had trouble walking. How’re your vision and hearing?”

"Double or more vision. Hearing is okay, but yes, you could say I'm dizzy," Ayden said as he laid own. "Wasn't really that bad until I started heading here."

“Alright,” Jane said. She put her tricorder down and put her hand on Ayden’s shoulder. “You do have a moderate concussion. I don’t think your skull is broken but I’m worried about a fracture too small for the tricorder to catch, and we don’t have time for more serious scans right now. I’m going to — very gently — touch your bruise. It will hurt, you need to tell me how much. Scale of one to ten. Okay?” She put her delicate fingers on the obvious bruise on Ayden’s forehead.

Nodding before the bruise was touched, Ayden had a feeling it would hurt. But the moment she touched it, he flinched away. "Okay..8 or 9," he said, "Sorry..."

“No, it’s okay,” Jane said softly. “I should be the one apologizing. We’ll get you fixed up,” she promised and gently patted his shoulder. She grabbed a pair of hyposprays. “This one is vertazine. It will help with the dizziness.” Jane pushed it into his arm, waiting until she heard the hiss stop. “This one is an analgesic. It will reduce the pain and help you sleep. We’ll do a full scan on your skull and repair any damage with an osteo-regenerator. I’ll wake you in two hours to check on you again. Before I give you this hypo, are you hurting anywhere else?”

He put up a hand, "Can't sleep for two hours. I've got too much work to do. I'm sorry Doctor. Isn't there another way you can do this?" He was glad for the vertazine, as it was helping. "Please, I'm the only engineer for the bridge."

Damn, thought Jane. This guy wants to be back in the fray. Worse yet, he may well be needed if we're to survive this. In any other situation Jane would put her foot down and confine him to sickbay, but this might be the time for compromises.

"Here's what we'll do," she began, waving her best Nurse Practitioner, a Vulcan woman named T'Kal, over to her. "T'Kal here will walk you to where we have more precise scanners. She'll find any fracture and seal it. When she's done, I'll give you a different analgesic, one that's less effective but won't make you drowsy." She helped Ayden slowly sit back up. "And you are ordered to return to sickbay the instant this threat is dealt with. Not after you finish some repairs, or after you think you can be spared. The immediate crisis ends and you're back down here on the double."

"This way, Lieutenant," said Nurse T'Kal, taking his arm.

"Oh!" added Jane. "And we'll be redoing the touch test when she's done. If the number is still too high, you're staying here, no questions asked. And don't lie to me. I'll know."

"I'll agree to that. There are other engineers in engineering, but they are busy. However, they know how to handle things." He got up and was glad he wasn't dizzy. Following T'Kal, Ayden couldn't believe he let himself get hurt. He was normally pretty good about this. "Fracture sealing, sounds like a fun time," he tried to come up with a conversation with the Vulcan, but he was never good at that.

"It should not be difficult," replied T'Kal, understanding Ayden's sarcasm. While Jane started working on another casualty, a young woman with burns on her hands, T'Kal led him to the wall, where a much more sensitive scanner was mounted to it. She guided him into a chair and moved the scanner to his forehead. "Look straight ahead, please." An image appeared on a nearby screen, and a fracture, small enough that the tricorder missed it, was crisp and clear. "There it is, Mr. Kennett." She gently tilted his head back and began slowly running an osteo-regenerator over the wound. "It will not take long. In the future, I recommend you avoid hitting your head on the floor with this amount of force."

Ayden chuckled slightly. "It wasn't a plan. Neither was us being shot at. Sometimes easier said than done, but I will try my best."

Jane finished with her other patient and came to see Ayden and T'Kal. She could see on the screen that the fracture was almost healed. When T'Kal finished, Jane moved the scanner away, crouched to the seated Ayden's eye-level. His forehead looked less red. She gently touched his forehead again. "Rate the pain, Ayden."

He hadn't expected there to be as much of a difference in the pain that there was. It twinged but, not much else. "Maybe two or three? It isn't bad now."

Jane scowled. She was pretty sure he was telling the truth, but to be sure, she flicked his injury. Not hard, but with enough force that paired with his surprise he wouldn't be able to temper his reaction.

Ayden winced slightly, more from the flick than the fact that she had hit the spot on his head. "Oy, now that wasn't nice. It's still a two or three by the way."

Jane smiled. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear." She stood up to her full, albeit unimpressive height, but given Ayden was still sitting she was higher and that counted in this instance. She put her hands on her hips. "Ayden, you're clear to return to the bridge on the condition that the instant the crisis is over you come back here. Tonight you're sleeping in a biobed. Not your bed. Not someone else's bed. One of these biobeds, where you will get a good night sleep, interrupted only to check for more concussion symptoms. And on matters such as these I outrank our dear XO. Are we clear?"

Giving a slight eye roll, he nodded. "Okay, okay. Fine, any fun plans are put on hold. Though don't blame me if this thing runs long. We don't really know for sure what we're up against"

"I understand," Jane said. "You're free to go. I'll notify the bridge to expect you." She grabbed another hypo and administered it. "The weaker analgesic I mentioned. Nondrowsy. You're free to go."

Rubbing his arm, Ayden nodded. "Thanks Doc," as he headed out.

"Ayden," Jane called back towards him. "Be safe up there."

Glancing back over his shoulder, "Have fun down here." And he headed back to the bridge.

The comm system activated. =^=Jane, how's your patient, Lieutenant Kennett?=^=

Jane went quickly to her desk and touched the comm panel =^= He’s on his way back up, with clearance so long as he comes back when the threat is gone. We're ready for more casualties, though I'd prefer if you didn't send any my way, Cindy. =^=

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