Surfing? More Like Crashing

Posted on Mon May 7th, 2018 @ 2:31pm by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Captain Daniel Westphalen
Edited on on Sun Mar 10th, 2019 @ 5:08am

1,259 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Cloud Surfing
Location: Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: After "Getting Back on the Road Part 2"

Not for the first time in his life, Sevel tried to calculate the cost-benefit ratio of having such small Sickbays on board some Starfleet vessels. With how often Starfleet must respond to emergency medical requests, even if that isn't what the ship had been designed for, or coping with their own injuries as life in space was still perilous, he had experienced the sensation that what he was working with just wasn't enough a few times during his career. He'd wondered just who decided how much internal volume was given to Medical at those moments, why a greater focus on the wellbeing of the crew wasn't the norm.

Today had turned out to be another of those days. Starting with nothing worse than a twisted ankle and a few reports to fill out, it had - with all the suddenness of a decloaking vessel - turned his peaceful domain into a room filled with hurried orders and groans of pain.

Seatbelts. That was the key to cutting down on an estimated twenty-percent of collision-based injuries, Sevel decided as he made the finishing passes over a brown and yellowed elbow that a young ensign had come in with. Like so many others on board who hadn't been braced properly or well enough, the kid had any number of bruises but was one of the lucky ones who hadn't broken anything. Seatbelts, or better inertial dampeners. "You are restricted to light duty for the next week, Ensign," Sevel said, stepping aside while one of his nurses updated the patient's chart. "You will receive orders as to your prescriptions. Do not deviate from those instructions."

The captain made his way into sickbay, his arm around an engineering crewman with a seriously broken ankle. Daniel saw the chaos, got the crewman situated against the wall just inside the room, and said, "Triage will probably put you back a bit, crewman - just be patient and you'll be seen as soon as possible."

The crewman nodded painfully, and Daniel stepped away, seeking his new CMO. As with Xander, Daniel hadn't met with Sevel prior to the mission's start, as was customary - counselling sessions and hiding from his XO had eaten into those typical formalities. However, upon finding Sevel knee-deep in injured Aurora crew, he skipped all formality and moved to his side. "If you need another hand, Doctor, I'm available. I had medic training as part of receiving this command."

Hard eyes took in the captain's presence for just a moment, and then Sevel was nodding towards the next patient he'd moved to, a woman who looked a little dazed and had a patch of cloned skin graft on her forehead, "Good. Five cc's of cortropine to get her on her feet, then you can help me with the next."

Sounding for all the world that he was giving commands - and in a way he was, Sevel wasn't going to waste time with niceties when the crew needed tending - the half-Vulcan turned to the next bio bed and began a scan with his medical tricorder. "I assume that the immediate crisis has been resolved, or you would not be here, Captain," he went on in the same clipped tone. "We've heard only wild rumors from those coming in for treatment and would appreciate an update."

"It's not good news," Daniel said, programming a hypospray and pressing it to the woman's neck to inject the medicine. Once that was done, he moved around the biobed to the opposite side Sevel was standing, ready to assist. "We were waylaid by a spatial anomaly. It's pushed us 10,000 light years off course and damaged most primary systems. Currently Engineering is attempting to restore mobility of any kind, while the science teams are reviewing the data from the anomaly encounter and Counselor Ka'Tock and Lieutenant Jansum have left in a shuttle to get an idea of our surroundings because the ship's sensors are minimally powered."

He let out a breath, looking around at the gathered crew. "The situation is dire, but we'll get through this. Just one thing at a time, and this is the first thing to my mind. The crew's the most important part of the Aurora and I don't want this situation to take any of them. Hence my presence. I can't do anything but wait if I'm on the bridge, so I'm here."

As might be expected, even news as dire as this was met with the same neutral expression from the doctor. Yet...there was something about the tightness of his skin around his eyes and the tense set of his jaw that let it be known that he wasn't immune from the effects of this news. Sevel kept working, having the captain inject the next patient with a coagulant while running a subcutaneous regenerator over a nasty looking bruise.

Sevel was surprised of course to find out they were so far from home, and that was going to take a lot of work to process and prepare for. Yet more immediately important was the captain's other statement, as Daniel Westphalen was absolutely correct. "I believe we will work well together, Captain," Sevel observed dryly, straightening from the patient and setting his instrument aside. It was going to be most satisfactory to work for a commanding officer who felt this way.

"As to update you on the status of your crew, we've processed twenty-one injuries so far, none serious. I estimate at current rate of injured reporting in we may cap out at thirty total. Seven crewmen will need at least a week or more of light duty as well; their names are being provided to their department heads whenever my nurse can take a moment to update their files."

"More than a third of the crew," The captain said, his voice low. "I'm glad to hear that we're seeing mostly bumps and bruises," his thought was punctuated with another hypospray injection, a smile and a pat on the uninjured shoulder of the crewman, and he moved again with the doctor. "When triage is complete, doctor, I'd like to ask that you begin performing an inventory of all necessary crew supplies aboard ship - rations, medical supplies, even the contents of the biolabs in case we need to perform analyses for edibility. I can say right now that we didn't leave port with exactly a year's worth of supplies, and until we know whether or not they can be replenished, we should stretch what we have. Better hungry than starved."

Sevel nodded briefly, as if having already expected the order and planned on it. "I will also provide you with a list of any critical shortages of certain equipment and medicine that we weren't meant to carry, Captain." With outposts, colonies, and starbases usually within easy reach and offering far better equipped and stocked hospitals, Sevel could think of a dozen different items for this second list that they were going to miss. "We will need to factor that into any search for supplies during...our stay in this part of space." The hesitation was small, but it was there, and an almost questioning tone.

"That would be appreciated," Daniel said. Then, to answer the unspoken question. "We'll be here until we find our way back, Doctor. So best to be prepared for any eventuality."

[Since Matt stepped down, I tagged for him. if you can wrap this and post it, I can remove him from the sim. Thanks! Charlie]

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OFF

Lieutenant Sevel
Chief Medical Officer

Captain Daniel Westphalen
Commanding Officer

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