A visit to the Infirmary

Posted on Mon 31st Oct, 2016 @ 6:06pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

1,023 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Cloak & Dagger
Location: Infirmary
Timeline: MD 02 1700 Hours

Brooklyn looked like hell with her flight uniform sporting grease and oil spots. Her hair was a mess with loose bangs hanging down. She was exhausted but she wanted to check up on the injured Marines from the explosion. She remembered when life was much simpler being just a pilot out of the Academy so many years ago. Now she had all the responsibilities of being in charge of the starbase's fighter wing. She spotted the door to the Infirmary as she rounded a corner in the corridor and entered.

The infirmary today was nothing like the calm, pristine, well-ordered domain of healing over which the CMO and her staff usually presided. People shouted instructions or requested information or supplies from each other. Corpsmen hurried back and forth with anti-grav lifts or gurneys, moving patients or equipment from place to place. Beds were mussed. Blood and sweat could be seen. Lighting occasionally dimmed and then brightened. The mingled scents of rubbing alcohol, perspiration, and charred flesh hung in the air as patients were triaged and directed to different areas of the infirmary for treatment. Occasionally a patient gasped or groaned in pain until a medical crewman could assist them.

An older Bajoran clad in scrubs walked over to a tall, pale, black-haired Lt. Commander and spoke to her briefly before turning away. Then he caught sight of Brooklyn and hastily intercepted her as he took in her appearance. "Where are you hurt, Captain?"

Taking in the chaos of the Infirmary brought back memories of the injured during the Dominion War. Brooklyn looked at the older bajoran and shook her head. "I'm not injured. I'm Captain Wellington, the Fighter Wing Commander. I've come to check on the personnel injured in the flight bay explosion."

"Captain Wellington...You're the CAG?" the Bajoran inquired. "I'm Dr. Dhuro, and I operated on Corporal Smith. Corporal T'ral is still in surgery. Why don't you come with me to my office, and we can talk? I'm guessing you'll want to see them afterward."

Lanis led Brooklyn into a quieter part of the infirmary mostly comprised of offices and labs, with a stop for chilled water along the way. His office looked as if it had been recently moved into and hadn't been decorated yet. A faded brown, Bajoran-style coat that seemed to have been pieced together like a patchwork quilt hung from a coat rack, but that was the only personal item visible. PADDS were arranged on the desk with military precision except for a more haphazard stack of them next to the computer, which was clearly the 'work in progress' pile.

Lanis gestured Brooklyn to a seat as he moved behind his desk. "Firstly, Corporal Smith will be fine, but he's going to be on the sick list for 2-3 weeks. He sustained second-degree burns over 68 percent of his body and third-degree burns over nine percent, including his hands. We were able to use dermal spray and dermal regeneration for the second-degree burns, but the third-degree ones required grafting. Normally, we wouldn't use an old-fashioned technique like that, but our equipment isn't working reliably, and I didn't want to risk using a skin lattice and replicator; I wasn't sure what we'd get if we tried." Lanis took a sip of water. "His hands being involved made it very difficult. We were lucky to have a hand specialist available. Smith is going to need physical therapy and occupational therapy on an outpatient basis for a while, and he's going to be in a lot of pain. At the moment we have him on stiff doses of IV antibiotics, painkillers and electrolyte replacements. The same will be true for Corporal T'Ral."

Brooklyn took a moment to digest the information. She was glad to hear that Corporal Smith was going to be alright but she was now down three people on the flight deck, which would cause everyone else to work harder. The incident itself still bugged her--the flight deck duty chief had said that Smith and T'Ral were replacing an impulse engine before rupturing a deuterium fuel line. She knew they should have drained the fuel or at least had shut it off before removing the engine. Perhaps it had been fatigue that caused the incident. "That's good to hear that he will survive," she replied with a sigh. "Why are the infirmary systems being affected? I thought the Medical systems had back-up generators?"

"They do," Lanis said, "but even those are fluctuating in power strength. The people from Ops are working on it, but they are stretched thin right now dealing with similar and some more severe failures occurring all over the station. At first it was thought to be substandard wiring, but what Vanguard is experiencing has gone far beyond a single faulty repair. If I were you, I would double-check any systems your people use that tie into the base power grid. Independent systems seem to be fine, so far, but grid-dependent systems are giving inaccurate readings, producing the wrong output, suffering intermittent failures, or are not functioning at all."

"Perhaps that was what caused the explosion," Brooklyn theorized. "Maybe the computer gave a faulty reading...damn this starbase."

Lanis shuddered. "I hope not. But it would explain the explosion. Anyway--if you'd like to see Corporal Smith, I can take you to him."

Brooklyn nodded. "Thanks, I'd like that, if he's conscious that is."

"He's out of post-op, so he had to have awoken before they would release him to a ward. Come on with me," Lanis said and stepped from behind his desk to show Brooklyn the way. He led Brooklyn through a couple of turns in the corridors before taking her into a large room occupied by several patients. "I'll leave you alone with him," Lanis said. "Don't stay too long today. I'll make sure someone informs you when T'Ral is out of post-op."

"Thank you, doctor," Brooklynsaid as she turned to the doctor. She turned and took in Corporal Smith laying on the bio bed, covered with bandages. She made her way into the room and sat down in a chair next to bed.

 

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