More Than Ten Percent

Posted on Wed Oct 13th, 2021 @ 6:20pm by Lieutenant Jennifer Bracco, M.D. & Lieutenant JG Sheldon Parsons & Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Lieutenant Kennedy Ryan Walsh & Ensign Ezra Gonzalez & Lieutenant JG Glum Dogrov

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 16 at 1300

[Sickbay]
[MD 16: 1310 Hours]

There had been a brief lull in the frenetic energy of Sickbay as the injured were cared for and settled in. The Sojo’s nursing team had begun to produce cots, directing the less injured to spaces to rest while the more egregious injuries were relegated to the bio beds where their vitals could be more readily monitored.

Those who could be, had been outfitted with phasers, instructions to modulate the beam disseminated and a reminder that close quarters phaser battles could easily produce friendly fire injuries.

In the odd half quiet of the moment Kennedy’s communicator came to life, Emni’s disembodied voice echoing over the room.

"Dr. Ryan Walsh, this is Lieutenant t’Nai," the woman’s voice said. "You have incoming wounded from the away team. Lieutenant Pell is down." There was an odd pause as the sound of a phaser discharging could be heard along with the shuffling of… something? "Two hits to his chest from close proximity by one of the drone lasers. He’s unconscious, but stable enough for transport. The wound appears to be cauterized on the outside, but haven’t been able to ascertain if he’s experienced any internal damage."

"Sickbay and myself acknowledge, Lieutenant. We are waiting are standing by for Mr. Pell, I will make the preparations for his arrival on our end," Kennedy replied. He looked over to the other doctors in Sickbay, "we have incoming wounded. LMH, you are gonna assist with making rounds. Bracco, I would love your help with Pell's arrival."

With Gonzalez' arm having been treated, Doctor Bracco smiled to the young Ensign. "You're all set for now. If you could grab a phaser and help keep us safe, that would be wonderful," she said to Ezra, eyes supportive and shining.

Ezra nodded and swallowed hard, trying to keep his body from shaking as he slipped off the biobed and looked for a phaser. As soon as one was put into his hand, he looked down at it and sighed. "I'm more comfortable with my Webley than with these," he commented aloud to himself. "Indiana Jones didn't have to fight alien robots." He sighed again. "Because alien robots didn't exist in the 1940s."

"Probably a good thing," she chuckled back. With a nod, Bracco meandered away from Ezra and back over to the main knot of nurses assisting other patients. She'd be prepared to start helping with another burn victim but, with the request made by Ryan Walsh, the Counselor-as-Doctor simply nodded and moved to stand near the young Doctor. It was hard to believe that, just an hour prior, he had been sobbing in her office. She was proud of the man for setting his emotions aside and falling back on his professional training at the moment. The emotional stuff could and would come later.

"Here for whatever you need, Doctor," Bracco intoned softly to Ryan Walsh.

"I’m contacting Lieutenant Chaali to initiate transport now," Emni’s voice informed. "Stand by." And then the comm went silent.

"Standing by," Kennedy replied.

There was a tense moment as the room seemed to collectively hold its breath and then the gold sprites of the transporter beam delivered Pell onto the only open biobed.

Kennedy moved quickly over to the bio-bed waiting for Doctor Bracco to assist him, "Away Team, advising you that we have received Mister Pell. We are working on him now, Doctor Ryan Walsh out."

Bracco's face soured ever so slightly as Pell appeared, the severity of his burns causing a spur of empathy for the man. As the Doctor coordinated with t'Nai, the Counselor had her tricorder out and began running the scanning module over the scientist's body, nodding slowly at the readings. "From what I'm seeing, severe burns seem to have resulted in unconsciousness. Reading numerous internal injuries throughout the patient's body. And..." she stopped herself, suddenly uncertain, "possible damage to his limbic system?" The question was directed to Ryan Walsh, whose medical expertise in treating brain injuries far surpassed Bracco's own. While she was an expert when it came to brain function and chemistry, physical damage was not her specialty.

Doctor Ryan Walsh jumped straight in as he brought up the medical readings over to a holographic display with the results from Doctor Bracco's tricorder. He then brought his hands up to Pell's holographic brain, placing his hands together he pushed them upward to zoom in on the details, "You're correct, Doctor. Good eye. I want you to sit in on this one, erm stand in on this one." He didn't like that expression.

"We will have to do what we can for Mr. Pell and than put him in stasis. Unfortunately we aren't too equipped to handle too much brain work and its beyond my specialization." He frowned.

"Happy to help Doctor," Bracco nodded, giving Ryan Walsh the assurance of a grim smile and a nod. Relief flooded through her as the Doctor confirmed her diagnosis of Pell. "We may need to get him to a starbase then. We can treat the burns and other damage but you're right," she nodded to the young doctor, "stasis may be the best thing for him for now. Where should we start, Doctor?" Bracco asked, the cart laden with tubes of dermaline gel and other pain relieving medications at hand nearby.

"If you can apply the dermaline gel that would be great, I'll get started on repairing the damaged tissue that I can," Ryan Walsh said as he grabbed the necessary equipment and started working.

"Of course," Bracco replied, reaching for some of the dermaline gel. The burns were widespread and angry; like cheese that'd been crisped atop a pizza but left too long in the heat. Layers of skin had baked and burned, folding away from the primary impact points of the beams, spreading like flower petals wilting in their death throws. Jennifer delicately began to apply the gel to the affected areas, hoping that they could save the man's body if not his mind.

As she well knew, the limbic system governed base activities like feeding oneself and governing the fight-or-flight response. Even if they could heal his body, Pell's mind was going to need help to recover: help they just couldn't provide on the Sojo. Slathering on heaps of gel, Bracco found herself wishing there was more she could do. But alas, handling the burns and tissue damage was about the extent of what could be done in the facilities on hand.

"Is the stasis chamber functional?" she asked then. Bracco looked to Ryan Walsh with worry in her eyes. So many systems had suffered damage in the drone attacks that she could not help but worry.

"I'm gonna have Parsons double check. He would be able to check into that for us, I just want to focus on getting Mr. Pell sorted first," Doctor Ryan Walsh ran the dermal regenerator and a few other tools over the areas that needed immediate repairs prior to stasis.

"Understood," Bracco nodded, concentrating on the work in front of her.

Parsons, meanwhile, had hopped down from his biobed to make room for other patients. With his burns slathered in dermaline and medication administered for the pain he was feeling, he moved to join Munro and some of the others who'd been treated but temporarily seated for observation. Like the others, Parsons, too, had a phaser in hand, tasked with defending the medical providers from any drones that might appear as they worked. His movements were sluggish, however -- thanks to the pain and discomfort from his burns -- and Parsons wondered how well he'd function in a firefight.

"Hey Sheldon...?" Doctor Ryan Walsh called for him, "Could you please come over here?"

"I'll be back when I can," Sheldon imparted to Gral and Munro before slowly standing up, taking care not to aggravate his burns too much. With a very noticeable limp, the young engineer made his way over Ryan Walsh. "Doctor?" he asked, not sure what would prompt the physician to stop his care for Pell and ask for him instead.

"Sheldon... I know you're hurt but I really need you to check into if stasis fields are operational. There's not much we can do for Pell here. We've done what we can and without a brain surgeon onboard our best is to wait. Is that something you can do? If you need a hand feel free to talk to Dogrov. He can provide any assistance."

Parsons considered the request for a moment and then nodded. "I can take a look. One less person with a phaser on the lookout but hopefully we have enough here to keep those damn drones off my back." With a nod, the engineer moved off, heading for the stasis field generator housed behind the bay of bio beds. He perked up as he swung a panel away from the wall, revealing the sophisticated bit of machinery housed inside. The generator itself looked just fine; there was no damage that Sheldon could see. Only...why wasn't it lit up?

"Oh no," Parsons sighed, resting his head against the wall. His mind flashed back to twenty minutes earlier when one of the drones had hit a power relay just down the hall a bit. It hadn't seemed terribly important at the time -- they were, after all, running and gunning to Sickbay -- but now Sheldon realized the ramifications of the damage. He returned to Ryan Walsh and Dogrov, who was nearby treating another burn victim.

"Doctor...Dogrov," Parsons began, "we have a problem. The stasis generator is fine but it's currently without power. I could try hooking it up to other Sickbay systems but," his eyes scanned the dismal crowd gathered in the medical ward, "I don't think we could spare the power draw with everyone you're treating in here. Which means..." he sighed deeply, "I'm going to need to fix the power relay out in the hallway. That should restore all the power you need. There's just one problem. My toolkit is still in the Science Lab. There's no way I'm making it there and back like this," he gestured down the burned length of his body.

"Sickbay, this is Captain Kodak. Long story but we've got comms back...sort of. What's your status?"

Doctor Ryan Walsh raised his hand to Sheldon to give him a moment now that the Captain was calling. "Main Sickbay is secure... we have some pretty badly injured casualties... the majority of them are going but I will need to setup an additional triage as its getting crowded here... we need additional power as we have one that will require stasis until we reach a starbase or make a medical rendezvous with another starship... I estimate we have at least twelve percent of the crew in Sickbay right now. We are running out of room and could use additional people down here with any medical training if we have anymore incoming casualties," Kennedy reported.

"We've setup force fields with rotating frequency nutation around Sickbay. They'll allow people in and out but should help keep the drones at bay. We should be able to set up something similar around the science lab across the hall. Somehow I don't think Mr. Pell will mind moving desks and equipment around to make room for the injured."

"Doctor, I know things are crazy but..." Kodak trailed off, "but could you see if Andrew Munro is alright? He was in that science lab with Mr. Parsons, I believe. I want to make sure both of them are OK."

Doctor Ryan Walsh looked over at Doctor Munro, "Doctor Munro is fine, he's been treated for his injuries, he's been sedated, might be slightly drowsy but he will be okay. Sheldon is well... he's still Sheldon but he's okay too. I've put Sheldon onto the task of trying to get the stasis fields working without any ramifications on our end.. We'll just have to.. make sure we have the power necessary to keep Mr. Pell and anyone else in stasis. Anything else, Captain?"

"I'm glad they're both OK, Doctor. Thank you for the update. It sounds like you're doing all you can. What we can do up here on the Bridge is limited," the Captain sounded frustrated at this, "but if you need something, let us know. For now, Bridge out."

Doctor Ryan Walsh was now able to provide Sheldon his attention now that the comlink with the Captain had ended, "Are you good at going over to the Science Lab, Lieutenant Dogrov?"

Sheldon had turned a little pink when the Captain asked about him. It felt good to be thought of, even if it was only because he'd been in the Science Lab with Munro when the attack began. He was glad to hear the Captain was still up on the Bridge; it brought him comfort to know people were still up there. As the Doctor brought the discussion back to getting his repair kit, though, he turned to look at Dogrov expectantly.

The Tellarite Lieutenant nodded his head thoughtfully, "I should just be able to do that. You just need me to run over there and get a toolkit? Would someone be able to provide me support?"

Kennedy nodded his head. "Bracco?" Kennedy walked over to where she was. He was nervous as he needed to be in Sickbay, or he would be going over with his Nurse, "How do you feel about going to the Science Lab with Dogrov to retrieve Sheldon's toolkit? We need it to get the stasis fields working. Once we've heard from the Bridge when the shields have been extended we'll move over there."

Bracco had been busy attending another patient but, when pulled aside, nodded firmly. "Let me just grab my pulse rifle again," she said to Dogrov as the pair moved to head out. Picking up the weapon from where she'd temporarily laid it down, the Counselor slung it about herself and edged towards Sickbay's doors. "Ready?" she asked the man who accompanied her.

At Dogrov's nod, Bracco moved forward, letting the doors hiss open in front of her. A turn to the right yielded no drones but a blast of angry red energy sizzled past her face from the left. Ducking into a crouch, the therapist tried to do one of those barrel roles she'd practiced back during the Academy. Fifteen years and a lot of chair-sitting, however, had robbed her of finesse and she more barrel-dived than rolled.

Still, the maneuver had left Bracco in a position to fire at the drone as another of its blast sailed overhead. The pulse compression bolts went wide at first but a quick adjustment to aim corrected their course. The drone stutter-flew into the wall and then ceased function, crashing to the floor.

"Go!" Bracco hissed to Dogrov, rising into a standing position and running down the short way to the Science Lab. Looking left to right, she covered the hallway while the nurse slipped into the lab and looked for the repair kit. It didn't take him long to return, kit-in-hand. "Back we go," she said, offering the man a tight smile of encouragement. Together, the pair backed themselves down the hall and back into Sickbay. "We got it," she breathed, gesturing towards Parsons.

"You were way quicker at that than I would have been," Sheldon offered in praise and thanks. Shuffling on his bad leg, he took the repair kit from Dogrov and looked towards the door. "Can the two of you cover me while --"

"Kodak to Sickbay. Good news but another long story. For now, just know the drones have been reprogrammed. They'll no longer see us as threats. The crew should be out of danger at this point...at least from any new injuries. More to come. Kodak out."

Parsons looked immensely relieved to hear the Captain's news. "Guess that makes my job a lot easier. Still, I'd feel more comfortable with an escort. Doctor...?" he asked, having forgotten Bracco's name.

"Call me Jennifer. C'mon, let's go," she said in response, leading the slowly-limping man out into the hallway. She followed Parsons to the panel in question and watched him quietly work. It didn't take him long to make repairs, it seemed, because soon enough the young engineer lifted his now-closed repair kit in triumph.

"Got it! Let's give the Doctor the good news and then..." Parsons trailed off, "then I'm going to collapse into a heap and melt into the floor for awhile. My leg feels like it weighs 1,000 pounds right now."

"You've earned the rest," Jennifer smiled back, leading the way back into Sickbay. As the doors swished open to admit them, she saw Ryan Walsh looking at them expectantly.

"All done. Power to the stasis unit has been restored, Doctor," Parsons reported stiffly. "Permission to get off my feet somewhere?"

"Permission granted," Doctor Ryan Walsh smiled, "Find yourself a bulkhead in Sickbay to lean up against."

As he turned to walk away. He stopped and looked the man in the eye, "And Sheldon. Thank you." He patted him on the shoulder softly and went back to check on his patients.

"You're welcome," Sheldon offered back as Ryan Walsh moved away. Permission to rest given, the young engineer moved off himself, looking for somewhere out of the way to sit down and recuperate. Lowering to the floor, he could see Doctor Ryan Walsh and his nurses getting Pell into stasis now that the generator was once again functional. The warmth of knowing he had a hand in saving a life would bolster him through the temporary discomfort he was feeling.


=/\= A joint-post by... =/\=

Lieutenant JG Kennedy Ryan Walsh, M.D.
Acting Chief Medical Officer

and

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Acting Executive Officer

and

Lieutenant Jennifer Bracco, M.D. (linked to Kodak)
Acting Ship's Counselor

and

Ensign Sheldon Parsons (linked to Kodak)
Engineering Officer

and

Ensign Ezra Gonzalez
Science Officer

and

Lieutenant JG Glum Dogrov
Nurse