The Life You Save

Posted on 14 Nov 2022 @ 3:56pm by Lieutenant Amelia Warner & Commander Kristiana Petrova

1,109 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A New Frontier
Location: Sickbay

Sickbay was bustling, and not in a good way. Many injured were being brought in - some by emergency point to point transport, some walking in, leaning on others, a few even being carried in. One such person was Kristiana Petrova, her uniform caked with dried blood, cuts and gashes in the fabric and the skin underneath. Her eyes were closed, though her breathing ragged. A strong securityman carried her in and placed her on one of the few remaining empty biobeds, as indicated by a nurse.

Kris opened her eyes as she felt herself being positioned on the biobed, squinting a bit at the sharp lights overhead, tiredly bringing up a wavering hand to shield her vision, wincing as she did.

"Give Tailyr thirty CCs of inaprovoline, and move Sevral to room two until you can check the database for compatible transfusion candidates," Amelia was shouting across sickbay as it continued to act like a hive of bees that had been kicked over. It was a little surprising for anyone to hear her volume, considering she wasn't a large woman and was normally softer spoken. That was in times of not-crisis, though.

As the bustling continued, she was the first one at the door when the security officer carried in the first officer... "Take it easy, Commander," Amelia said, practically teleporting by sheer will to the XO's bedside. Her tricorder had already been in her hand, so it was easy to begin the scans. "You look like you've been put through the wringer, Commander Petrova," she said as she watched various injuries and conditions pop up on her small tricorder screen.

"Feel like I got run over by a starship," beat. "Then ran a marathon," Kris intoned, a waver in her voice. She just closed her eyes now and let her arm rest on the slab, trying to focus on her breathing. "Wish someone would stop banging the drums inside my brain."

"I'll see what I can do about that," Amelia said, snapping shut the tricorder and sliding it into her lab-coat as she whirled around to the table beside the biobed. "You'll be happy to know that the drums are not from a concussion, however, you've lost a lot of blood and pushed yourself way, way further than you should've. Your body has been trying to tell you as much." She snapped a vial into the hypospray and pressed it to Kris's neck. "Painkiller, then we're gonna get these gashes stitched up. Nurse Veyo, I need a local anesthetic and autosuture."

"Are you saying I should've just stopped fighting intruders who were killing my people right in front of my eyes?" Kris shot Amelia a look, though the immediacy of the pain of that action calmed her down again. As the hypo took effect she deflated a bit, just resigning herself to the doctor's care. "Just - ... imagine I said a whole 'as long as I draw breath' speech here."

The doctor gave the first officer a thoroughly unimpressed look. "I can do the calculations between the length of time the attack lasted and what you would've had to put your body through to reach this point in that amount of time," she said coolly, removing one of the rudimentary bandages as the nurse put the autosuture device in her other hand. "I imagine it'll put your levels of exertion as trying to be more than one person at a single time, which is a quick way to help your people by dropping dead from exhaustion in the middle of the fight." She administered the local, then began to stitch up the worst of the gashes and stop the blood loss from that point.

"And giving up before that just because I'm tired is a quick way to see more of my crew being torn literally to ribbons right in front of my eyes," Kris couldn't bring up the venom she intended those words to carry. Instead they just came out barely above a whisper, as if every syllable took effort. Which they did. "I still hear their screams, even now. It - ... They - " she shook her head a bit, as if trying to clear her brain, in vain. "This ship, this crew - it's all I have."

"I'd like to see you stay alive for that, Commander," Amelia said. She wasn't going to let go of her point, period, but she was still a doctor. So, this last comment came out a bit defrosted compared to the last one. "You have a capable crew on this ship, and everyone needs to utilize each other and also support each other, sometimes by supporting ourselves." She worked through suturing the deeper tissues first, the blood flow staunching quickly as she worked. "We are going to need a transfusion, Nurse Veyo, please prepare a pint of SynthPlasma immediately," she said over her shoulder.

"Ashley was a capable officer. Bailey. Kolak," Kris closed her eyes, just concentrating on her breathing for now. That took enough energy. Though in a low voice she added "I didn't fight through fire and hell to get scolded and berated. I tried to save lives." Her words just sounded defeated, not having the strength to add weight and gravitas to them.

Amelia stifled a sigh, but kept her initial thoughts to herself. She finished the internal stitching and moved to the dermal layer as Veyo administered the SynthPlasma. "That's also what I do, Commander," she said quietly. "Or what I try to do."

"I know. And I do appreciate it," Kris admitted in a low voice. "Sorry, just - venting. Frustrated," Her words slow, they weren't easy to admit, even in the best of times if she'd had the energy to. "Crewmates gone, ship damaged, and I'm lying here, out of commission. How long 'til I can get back to duty? Light, administrative duty?"

Finishing the suture on one wound, Amelia did a quick tricorder scan to make sure the plasma was doing its job, and then she moved to the other wound. Removing the quick-fix bandage, she did a quick examination before beginning that one. "Tomorrow," she said. "None of your injuries themselves are life-threatening, but I want you under observation for the night. If everything is recovering well, you can return to light duty tomorrow."

"Alright. You won't hear an argument from me," Kris admitted, resigned, but glad for the prognosis too. "Thanks, doc. I'm sorry for - ... whining. Pushing too much." Part of that was true at least. Though she knew that if given the same situation, she'd do the same thing all over again.

 

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