Falling or Flying

Posted on Sat Jun 6th, 2020 @ 8:19am by

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 06: After "Ring Around The Rosies"
1836 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

OLD:

"Please help her." The red-shirt, now free of his burden, frantically waved towards the approaching medical staff. "She's having trouble breathing, I think she hit her console on the bridge with her side."

Sekat approached them, feeling even more unsteady on his feet now that the deck felt off-kilter to him. "Can you talk?" he asked the helmswoman, as he offered her his free arm for support. "Natasha!" he called out, feeling the CMO might be needed.

"Barely," Sullivan managed to wheeze out. The pain continued to increase as the lights above the biobed flickered in the pilot's vision. Rather worryingly, a section of her rib cage seemed to be moving contradictory to the normal rise and fall of her breath. Then, without much warning at all, she fainted on the biobed.

Natasha finished wrapping the bandage around her arm as she rushed over to the bed. "Shit," she said, more to herself than to anyone else as she looked at the woman on the bed. She looked up at Sekat and pointed to a hypospray near him before looking back at Lilith. "Sullivan, I'm going to sedate you so I can patch you up, okay? You're going to be just fine, I promise."

NEW:

If Sullivan responded, the sound she made was inaudible over the ambient noise filtering through sickbay. This fact was a larger cause for concern than it normally would have been for the ship's warp engines, which had started the calamity, were currently offline. Lilith faded in and out of consciousness up until the point that the hypospray with the sedative touched her neck, but before she went completely under, she managed one word in a moment of lucidity.

"Cassie..."

Sekat turned and flagged a nurse. "Page Miss Leblanc, tell her to come down to sickbay, immediately," he ordered, before turning back to the patient. "She will be here soon," he promised, "you rest now."

Cassie was already on her way to sickbay - she had fallen when the ship lurched, and the wrist she had had treated that very morning had started hurting again - when Lieutenant Sekat paged her. Baffled by the request, she acknowledged the page, and started jogging to her intended destination.

She made a full stop when she arrived; she was not prepared for what she was seeing. "Lily!" she cried as she rushed to her bedside, the pain in her wrist forgotten. "What happened?" she frantically asked the first medical staff member she saw.

"Ma'am," the crewman that had assisted Sullivan to sickbay was still loitering around, clearly uncertain about whether to stay and continue to give information to the doctors or to vacate the premises and leave them to their work. But his hesitance resulted in him stumbling into another opportunity to be of some use. "I, uh, was on the bridge when the accident occurred. She must've hit her side against the conn with the sudden stop. It was a violent impact - I'm sorry, I know you knew that already. We all experienced it I guess. Which is why we're all here..."

The realization that he was rambling seemed to amplify the nervousness of the red-shirt, which only served to increase the amount of rambling he was spouting off in some sort of social feedback loop that was in danger of running away asymptotically. He collected himself with a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I helped Lieutenant Sullivan here as quickly as I could. Maybe we should've used site to site transport instead..."

Cassie placed a hand on the crewman's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. The medical staff will fix her up, good as new," she said confidently, although she felt anything but. "What's your name?" she asked him as she sat at Lily's bedside and gently held her hand in both of hers. "Hey, I'm here," she whispered, not entirely sure her girlfriend could hear her.

"Petty Officer Graham Nichols," the redshirt responded with his rank and name out of habit. This, along with a body of evidence comprised of his body language, nervous expression, and inability to look anywhere near the biobed where Sullivan awaited surgery essentially shouted the fact that he was new. And quite possibly not just new to the ship or to Starfleet, but experiencing life and its callous disregard for sentiment for the first time.

"I think," Nichols stuttered. "I think I should go. Good luck, ma'am."

The petty officer took once last glance at the vitals posted on the display above Sullivan's bed as he walked away. The biobed was soon enveloped by the scrubbed medical team and the bright overhead lights of sickbay. Centuries of advancement in healthcare and the skill of the trained professionals on Majestic's staff set to work. Several ribs required mending, as did the injury to her right lung.

The press of a hypospray to Lilith's neck rendered her chemically unconscious. Time slowed to a halt for some in the room. For others, time worked against their efforts to save the pilot's life. As the surgery continued, a positive outcome became more and more likely which had the effect of lightening the mood in the room.

Sekat stepped up to Cassie's side. "She will be alright," he offered quietly, "we are going to keep here for the night and monitor her closely. Do you want me to pull up a bed so you can stay with her?"

Cassie nodded and lifted her gaze to the young lieutenant. "If you'd be so kind, thank you."

Sekat nodded and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Stay here, I will return shortly." He knew all about not being able to be with an ailing partner and he wouldn't wish that on anyone if he could do something about it. Within minutes, he returned with a stretcher and set it up beside the stricken woman's bed. "Pillows and blankets are over there in that cupboard," he said, pointing in the right direction. "Will you alert me if she wakes?"

[Two Hours Later]

"F---."

In a dimly lit, sectioned off portion of sickbay, the vital signs of the patient lying in biobed 1-A slowly began to normalize. The first indications of consciousness followed not long behind, including but not limited to the occasional outburst of profanity that was borne out of the pain lingering from the surgery. Some of the sparkle in Sullivan's sapphire blue eyes had returned as her brain began to reconcile the missing moments between her current physical condition and her last waking memory.

Even in the midst of the pain and darkness, she realized that she was not alone. A familiar silhouette was faintly outlined beside her in an adjacent bed. Instinctively, Lily contorted herself into a shape that would allow her to be closer to Cassie, but the movement set off an alarm which startled everyone within earshot.

"Oops," Lilith grimaced in the increasing illumination. "That's uh - that's my bad."

Cassie woke with a start at the sound of the blaring alarm. She blocked her ears with her fingers and called out, "Computer, please turn off the alarm!" Once the room went silent, she looked around to see if the alarm would sound again, and released her ears once she was sure it wouldn't.

"Looks like everybody knows you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked Lilith, yawning. She didn't know what time it was, but judging from the activity in sickbay, she couldn't have slept more than two or three hours.

"Every. Single. Thing. Hurts. But I'm still here," Sullivan whimpered, mostly successful in keeping a straight face. She spoke in a low voice, breathing shallowly due to the brace around her ribs. "I think everyone knows I'm awake now - stupid alarm. But hey, thank you for being here. You don't know how much it means to..."

Her voice broke off. In the silence, she found herself holding back a surge of emotion, a crescendo that had been building in her for years without her ever being directly aware of it. Her mind had chosen that exact moment to race frantically through a deluge of hypotheticals and emotions. What if I hadn't made it? she thought to herself. Lily closed her eyes and despaired over the thought of never seeing Cassie again. Her heart leapt with joy when she reminded herself that, for the moment, everything was okay. She felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes. The emotional whiplash was taking its toll.

As Lily reopened her eyes, the serenity of knowing that she wouldn't have to face this ordeal alone stilled her worried mind. Lilith searched for a way to articulate her thoughts and feelings, but the words wouldn't come to her.

And then, they did.

"I love you," Lilith spoke from a vulnerable place. Her voice was quiet, but unwavering. "I think that's what I've been trying to say for a while now."

Taken unawares by the sudden declaration, Cassie was stunned silent for a moment. Trying to process a whole array of emotions at once - worry, relief, joy, stupefaction - was almost overwhelming. She regained her composure as well she could, but seeing her girlfriend in such a state almost made her cry too. She smiled and wiped the tears rolling down Lilith's cheek, then wiped her own the the palm of the other hand.

"I love you too," she finally said, after what seemed like forever, although she had stayed silent only for a handful of seconds. It just seemed so awkward, yet oddly fitting to be making such a first declaration: awkward because of the place they were currently sat in, fitting because of the current situation.

Cassandra then looked around; there was so much activity in sickbay, yet no one seemed to be paying attention to them, and the alarm had sounded minutes ago. She turned back to Lily, and grinned that mischievous grin. "Should we turn it on again for shits and giggles, see if they'll pay attention this time?"

"Yes!" Lily started to giggle but stopped quickly and winced in pain, looking for all the world like caged bird staring out of a window at the vast wilderness beyond. She was, after all, just hours removed from major surgery. "Oh right," she grimaced. "Maybe we should keep it down a little. At least until my rib cage is one solid piece, relatively speaking. You should go, Cassie. Doctor Sekat will take care of me, the ship needs you for the mission. I'll be fine, I promise."

"Yes, Doctor Sekat will take care of you," the approaching Vulcan announced. "And you will rest now." He gave her a kind look as he silenced the alarms. "Rest, and perhaps I will let you return to her care in the morning."

---

Lieutenant j.g. Sekat
Medical Officer
pnpc Lhaes

Lieutenant Lilith Sullivan
Chief Flight Control Officer
PNPC Hanover

Cassandra Leblanc-Reed
Chief Diplomat