Post-Surgical Report

Posted on Wed 4th Apr, 2018 @ 7:27pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

1,246 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Sickbay

There was a dolphin in the waiting room. Commander Bowditch was an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, tursiops truncatus. Born to the Andros Island pod, she was the only dolphin in Starfleet, though many of her kind served aboard Starships as contractors. The Commander's uniform was a wetsuit, keeping her skin hydrated. She wore a nearly-unnoticeable antigravity harness which let her swim through air, and a pair of waldos (currently tucked up against her body) let her interface with controls meant for humanoid hands. She was quiet, and rested against a bulkhead, but her head and her eyes followed the medical staff as they hurried through on the way from there to some other place.

The doors to the waiting area slid open and Lieutenant Commander Mikaela Locke, acting-commander of Vanguard strode in purposefully. She hadn't been aware of the Samurai XO's unique standing (or, more accurately, floating,) in Starfleet until a few moments before, when she had been advised as such by Lieutenant Baro, but from her reaction, one would have thought that it was the most normal, even mundane, thing in the universe.

"Commander Bowditch," she began, formally, "I'm Commander Locke - welcome to Starbase 109."

"Thank you," the Dolphin answered, turning away from the wall. Her voice sounded slightly mechanical, and her mouth didn't move when she spoke. After decades of use, she could activate the voder which spoke for her simply by subvocalizing. "I regret that the circumstances aren't better."

"I apologise that I wasn't able to meet you in the docking bay," Locke continued, "but I wanted to ensure all aspects of your arrival were co-ordinated as effectively as possible."

"And they were; thank you." Bowditch was exhausted. She had barely slept since the battle. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for a dolphin, as they "slept" one brain hemisphere at a time, the other awake and keeping them on task with swimming and breathing. But even that rest had been denied Samurai's exec as she struggled to keep her wounded ship together and flying.

"I'm glad to hear that," Mikaela replied, both glad for the XO, who had clearly been through enough already, and grateful that her crew had performed to expectation. She gestured towards the main sickbay entrance, not wanting to keep the tired dolphin waiting any longer than necessary. "Shall we?"

"After you, Commander," Bowditch answered, flexing her flukes and moving away from the bulkhead.

Locke entered sickbay with Bowditch floating beside her. Although it seemed like most of the patients with life-threatening injuries had since been treated and stabilised, sickbay was still a hive of activity. Locke waited a respectful distance from the main bio-bed cluster until Doctor Addams had a moment to come and see them. "Doctor Addams," she indicated towards the tall, thin physician, "This is Commander Bowditch, the Samurai's first officer. Commander," she returned the gesture towards the doctor, "Chlamydia Addams - our chief medical officer."

"Charmed, I'm sure," the Doctor said, nodding at the Dolphin.

"What's the news, Doctor?' Locke asked, getting down to business now that introductions were complete.

Lanis glanced up from one of the patients lying in a biobed in time to see the marine creature come floating into the infirmary along with Commander Locke. His eyes widened. "Well, that's different," he muttered under his breath and turned back to continue examining his patient.

"Your skin grafts look like they've accepted the scaffolding and are growing well," he told the patient, who was one of Samurai's crewmen who'd had burns over 60% of his body and currently lay under a sterile field. "Make friends with the bed because you'll need to be here for a good three days, and then you'll do your physical therapy as an outpatient. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," the patient said listlessly.

Lanis nodded. "I'll have a counselor come talk to you. You wouldn't think it would help, but I've found it does."

Addams looked around and spotted Lanis. "A moment, please," she said to the commanders before her. "Doctor Dhuro? Do you have time to join us?" To the commanders, she explained, "Doctor Dhuro is my chief of surgery. He'll have more information on the most acute cases than I will, just at the moment."

The marine creature was ... from Earth, Lanis recalled after a moment, a bottle-nosed dolphin. Earth had produced a sapient aquatic species in addition to the land-born Humans. He had studied them during a lecture unit while at Starfleet Medical, but this was the first time he had ever encountered one in person.

"Excuse me; I'll be right back," he said to his patient and joined the trio of officers. "Good day, Commanders. Yes, Dr. Addams?"

"You know Commander Locke, I believe," Addams said, using her slender, long fingered hand to indicate the Human. "And this gentlesoph is Commander Bowditch, Samurai's executive officer. I believe you handled the surgery on Captain Suzuki?"

"Ah." Lanis directed his attention to Commander Bowditch. "I am very sorry for the losses you've taken, Commander. It's been a rough day for you and your crew. I did perform the orthopedic surgery on Captain Suzuki, with assistance from one of our neurosurgeons, Dr. Minh-Tero, who placed an intracranial shunt to drain off cerebrospinal fluid. That has relieved the pressure on your captain's brain, so we were able to take her out of the medically-induced coma. Her EEG is showing normal sedated sleep now. I repaired her left hip and leg, which sustained extensive blunt-force trauma. We had to use holographic modeling, replicate stem cells, and implant them throughout the limb and hip to regrow the bone. We have to be careful how much bone regeneration we do, to prevent overgrowth."

The Dolphin dipped her chin two or three times rapidly, mimicking a Human nod. "Thank you for your care, Doctor. I take it the Captain will be awake again soon?" Without giving the Doctor time to respond to her query, she went on, "and what of the rest of the crew? What is their condition, generally?"

"Anyone who lived to reach our facility will survive," Addams assured Bowditch. "Some will walk away this afternoon, but most will need follow-up treatment. Psychological or physical therapy, or both. Ongoing monitoring of those who have time-delayed treatment, such as your Captain. And, of course, the morgue is awaiting classification of its inhabitants -- who needs to be sent home, who should receive a burial in space; that sort of thing." She looked to Dhuro to see if there was anything she'd forgotten or overlooked.

"I expect Captain Suzuki to awaken sometime this afternoon," Lanis said. "She'll need to use a knee brace and cane to lend her additional support while walking for a few weeks, but I anticipate she'll make a full recovery. As for your crew overall, I agree with Dr. Addams--physical, psychological, and occupational therapy, and the sooner we can get them started on those, the better. Starfleet personnel tend to be motivated, ambitious people who are driven to succeed. They won't like an extended period of forced inactivity, especially after so severe a loss. I think they need some time to lick their wounds, but not too much time. I don't intend to let my patients brood."

"Thank you, Doctor... Doctors." Bowditch nodded again, and turned to regard Locke. "And Commander. I, and all the Samurai, appreciate the care you've taken with our ship and our people."

 

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