A Twist Of The Knife - Part Two

Posted on Wed Aug 19th, 2015 @ 12:55pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Ophelia Payne & Lieutenant Commander Solis & Suresh & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Bryce Kendrick & Ensign Chanella Jackson & Crewman Sverker Leighis

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Piper Medical Center

* Piper Medical Center *

The emergency response team had initiated transport and now the officer on duty called Dr. Harding. Details were given and he barked an order to call Earl and Solis and as soon as he closed the channel, he was on his way to the transporter pad at a run. Ophelia caught up with him and he briefed her on what little he knew. She in turn ordered OR 1 prepped. As they neared the transporter pad, they could see Earl approaching from a side corridor.

Coming towards them at a surprisingly spry dash, for an old guy, Earl followed the two into the transporter room and stopped. Already, there was quite a bit of blood on the pad. "Good Gods," he exclaimed, "Get a gurney!" An orderly just coming in went back out and grabbed a gurney from the corridor.

Bryce rematerialized in the medical center with Six still in his arms. “She’s been stabbed through the back, I think it pierced a lung! She was breathing frothy blood, but she’s stopped breathing now.”

The medical teams launched toward him and he almost hesitated in letting go of her but he knew he could do nothing else. He was supposed to protect her and failed. Now it was in the hands of more skilled crew than he.

“Ophelia, call Solis and tell him just to get to the OR,” Will yelled. “Earl, go with them. I’ll be there in just a few.” Will tapped his comm badge and began issuing more orders for the OR staff as the rest began to move in a hurry, whisking Six out through the doors. He looked back at Bryce. “Anyone we need to have Kiere call?”

“Uh... “ Bryce was barely listening to anything going on around him. “Uh, Su--” he started, then stopped. “No. I’ll take care of it.” Before Harding got away, Bryce grabbed his arm. “You have to save her.”

“We’ll do our best, I promise you that, Bryce.” Harding patted Bryce’s hand. “You’ll be waiting I assume? I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any change.” With that, Will turned and dashed out through the doors.

Earl was already gloved and gowned and working to triage Six's punctured lung when Will arrived. He didn't glance up to see who it was. "Let's take the knife out. It's going to get worse before it gets better," he commented.

“Agreed.” Will stood still, holding up his hands as two techs slipped on the gloves and gown. Out in the corridor, they could hear a male voice bellowing.

“Out of my way!” A second later, Solis stormed in, wrapped in a gown and gloves, his hair hidden beneath a surgical cap. “Sorry for the delay, I was asleep.” He took one look at the table. “Shit.”

“Alright, folks, let’s do this.” Will nodded to Earl and they took hold of Six, who now wore an oxygen mask.

Solis grunted and moved forward, delicately easing out the knife. As Earl predicted, it got worse before it got better.

"She's crashing! BP is dropping, no heart rate," a medtech shouted, making sure no one missed the message.

"Shit!" Earl cursed a blue streak under his breath. "Defibrillator!", he called for the equipment to restart Six's heart. He had to wonder whether her nanites would help here or hinder them?

Solis cursed right along with Earl as he watched the tech and the defibrillator.

“Clear!” Leighis shouted and pressed the button. Six’s body arched up off the table, then dropped back down. The monitor gave a few faint beeps, then went silent.

“Again!” Will ordered. This time, the beeps started, stuttered, then picked up once more. As if reading Earl’s mind, he answered him. “The nanites are likely overwhelmed. Scan shows massive internal bleeding. I’ll see what I can do to boost them. You two, put her back together.” He turned away to the nearby computer console and set to work establishing the link to the nanites that swam through Six’s system.

"Oh, sure, give us the easy job," Earl grimly joked in a manner that most people would find horrifying. He pulled the arch over Six and set about finding and stopping the points of internal bleeding. He worked from the inside out, healing the wound in her lung first and reinflating the organ before moving along the knife blade's path.

“Holy hell,” Solis murmured as they worked. “How could one knife do this much damage? Unless….” He grabbed a small scanner and moved it over the exposed hole in her lung. “Well, fuck me, Earl. No wonder. Concentrated anti-coagulant. He intended for her to bleed out before she ever got here. What the hell?”

"Who did this to her? Do we know? Isn't she just an Ensign?" Earl's rumor mill wasn't quite as well connected... mostly because he didn't necessarily pay attention to it. "We'll need to flush the wound to get that out."

Will looked up from the console. “All I know is that they were in the Arboretum. Lt. Kendrick seemed to be a little in shock. Whoever it was meant business, obviously.”

“I’d like to get my hands on whoever it was,” Solis growled. He took a tube from Ophelia. “This is gonna be a little messy, Earl.” He nodded. Ophelia pressed the control panel and as he began to flush the wound, blood began to flow out over the table.

Some of the blood and saline spilled over the edge of the table, wetting Earl's pants legs and shoes. "Well, damn it. These were my favorite golf shoes." The wash was working, though, as he watched the scans. "The anti-coag is just about gone."

“Good.” Solis spent a few more minutes cleaning and then a look at the scans showed the hemorrhaging had stopped. “Thank goodness for small favors,” he murmured. “I’ll buy you some new golf shoes, old man. How about bright green?” He passed the saline tube back to Ophelia.

"Hmm. Purple, I think." Earl restarted his work on stitching together muscles, tendons, and blood vessels, millimeter by millimeter.

Solis followed behind him, cleaning up the path of Earl’s work. “Any luck Will?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ve made some adjustments. Once you two get her back together, the nanites should get back to work. I have them on standby till you’re out of the way.” He rose and crossed to the biobed, looking in. “A real shame about that oath we took, huh?” His intent was clear to Earl and Solis.

This time, Earl did glance at Harding. "First, do no harm," he quoted. "I'd rather let Julisa and her office handle the justice side." He could say that because Six would live; there were some crimes he was more willing to break his oath to avenge.

“I know but there are some days….” Will muttered.

Solis laughed for a moment. “Just think of the fun Ray and Julisa are going to have. That should satisfy you a little, Will.” He paused in his work, grabbed a towel and rubbed his eyes. “Report, Chanella.”

“BP and respiration steady,” she answered. “Oxygen level is a little low but that should clear up once you finish there. Looks like she may be out of the woods.”

"Will? Want to turn the nanites loose?" Earl asked, knowing the nanites could do the tiniest of repairs that he and Solis might miss.

“On it.” He returned to the panel and entered the command. The computer beeped acknowledgement and Will breathed a sigh of relief. “They’ll follow along and finish up the small stuff, to use the technical term.” Will laughed shortly. “For what it’s worth, purple will be a good color on you Earl.”

"I agree," he looked down at his formerly yellow shoes. The surgical arch beeped at him and he quickly got his eyes back on his task. "This shouldn't take long now."

“Leighis, inform whoever’s waiting out there that we should be done in twenty and will give them a full report then,” Solis ordered. Sverker nodded and hurried out. Solis looked up at Earl and batted his eyelashes at him. “You do good work, honey. Drinks are on me tonight. It’s been awhile since we brought someone back to life.”

"Oh, you flirt," Earl laughed. "Let's think about those drinks. I wouldn't want you to think I'm taking that literally - Julisa might get mad if I lick drinks off of you."

“She would. She doesn’t mind the dancing though, and yes, I’ll let you lead.”

Will laughed once more and shook his head as he looked on. “You two are not right, I swear.” He turned and checked the computer console once more. “Six’s little internal friends are getting busy. I never thought I’d say this, but she may be lucky she was once a Borg.”

"Mixed blessing there." Earl stopped what he was doing. The nanites were outpacing him. "I'll let those things finish here. How about I go talk to ...whomever is waiting?"

“I can monitor her from here,” Will said. “You two go handle the update.” Will stepped up to the table and took over for Earl.

Earl nodded and, before leaving the room, stripped off his gown, gloves and shoes. Before heading out to the main corridor, he replicated a new pair of pants and traded them for his stained pair.

Solis followed suit and a few minutes later, they were out of the OR.

* * *

Bryce was in the surgery waiting area pacing back and forth, wringing his hands and wishing he had wrung Riley’s neck instead of just punching him. Tears stung his eyes but his face was one of rage and confusion. How could he have stabbed her like that? They had just been together earlier and he was so happy to see her!

He let out a long, loud growl and punched the wall repeatedly, leaving a fist-sized dent in the thin sheet of duranium lining the walls.

It was several moments before he realized how much damage he had just done to his hand. Looking back at the wall he was surprised to see a dent there since duranium was such a strong material. That would explain why his hand was now throbbing.

He sighed heavily and walked out into the corridor stopping a passing nurse. “I’m going to see someone about this hand,” he said.

The nurse looked at Bryce's hand and nodded. "Come on, the doctors are busy, but a PA can handle that." He led him to a room and summoned a physician's assistant. A few minutes later, one arrived.

So did a rushed, worried Lieutenant Darwin. "Bryce! What happened?"

As the PA checked his hand with a scanner, Bryce looked to Darwin. “I don’t know why, but Riley attacked Six in the Arboretum. I wasn’t fast enough, Mike. He stabbed her in the back right through one of her lungs.” He winced in pain as the PA manipulated his hand a bit to get a feel for what may or may not be broken. “She stopped breathing in my arms, man.”

"She's...?" He glanced at the nurse and PA.

The nurse shook his head, "Doctors Harding, Solis and Crane are in there, working on her."

Darwin relaxed a tiny bit; doctors don't work on dead people. He then went back to the other shocker: "Riley? As in Riley Sukotav? Recently missing Riley? Dating an annoying Orion Riley? He attacked Six? Any indication why?"

Bryce shook his head and resisted the urge to pull away from the PA. They always insisted on touching the painful parts for some reason. Finally she began her treatment of his hand.

“I honestly don’t know,” he added. “We had just met with him at Cravings and were planning on going to the Nexus tonight. He was acting a bit odd, though, all touchy-feely with Six. But other than that he was just...Riley. The next thing I know I saw him lurking in the bushes and then he was running at Six with a knife.”

He turned to the nurse. “Could you please check on their progress with her? I need to know something or there will be another fucked up hand and more dents in the bulkhead.”

Darwin nodded at the nurse, who hurried out of the room. Looking at Bryce, he shook his head and said, mystified, "Riley?" He couldn't fathom it. "Did he say anything that concerned you?"

“Nothing. It all seemed fine until…” His voice trailed off as he recalled the scene again.

"Until what? Do we need a telepath to read your memory?"

“Until he sank that knife between her ribs!” Bryce snapped. He closed his eyes and sighed again. “Sorry, man. I’m just...angry, pissed, confused. I don’t get why he would do this.”

Darwin was as confused as Bryce. "I have some folks to contact, Bryce. No hitting bulkheads." He stepped out of the small room to contact Suresh, Gilroy, Nico and the Brig, where Riley had been taken from the Arboretum.

When the nurse returned from the OR, the two men re-entered the treatment room. The nurse said, "Six is, as they say, 'out of the woods', but not yet out of surgery."

Bryce let out a big whoosh of air at the news. The change in his face was immediately evident. “Good news,” he whispered.

"More good news, Lieutenant," the PA announced, "I'm just about done here. Two broken knuckles, a broken phalange, bruised everything else. Don't go punching anything else, including sparring targets, for two weeks." She moved his hand again, none too gently, and closed a wound over his knuckles. "There."

“I’ll just use my left hand,” he said as he hopped off of the table. “Thanks. It feels much better.” He flexed his hand several times and walked out into the corridor, followed by Darwin.

He bumped right into Suresh, who was moving along the corridor at a rapid clip. “Oh. Bryce! Darwin! Where’s Six and what the hell’s going on??” For all his usual composure, Suresh looked positively panicked.

Darwin put a hand on Bryce’s shoulder and stepped around him to take Suresh's arm. "Six will be fine, Surie. The doctors are fixing her up right now," he spoke calmly, quietly.

“Will be?” Darwin’s calm tone set off warning bells. “Tell me….” He looked from Darwin to Bryce and the panic spread. “How bad?”

"Ah... Actually, I haven't gotten a report on her injuries," Darwin hedged. "Bryce said she was ...um... stabbed in the back, through a lung."

“Through a lung…” Suresh could figure out what that meant. He looked now to Bryce. “Who? Who did this?”

“It’s still an open investigation,” Bryce said, snapping back into security mode. “We can’t really discuss more than what you know now. Sorry,” he added.

“Were you there?” Suresh asked. “How?” He sagged back against the bulkhead and covered his eyes. Darwin had said she would be fine and he was struggling to hold on to that, to think of Six and not let his anger at some unknown person overcome him.

“Look, Suresh,” Bryce said, “you and I haven’t started off well but believe me when I tell you that this is something I want to tell you all about because it involves Six, but I can’t. What I can tell you is that she was stabbed and that the doctors are working on patching her up now. If I could tell you more, I would, but there are rules, even when it concerns someone we both care about.”

Darwin nodded at Bryce and directed Suresh to a waiting room. A tech came out of the OR and told them it'd be about twenty minutes till a doctor updated them. Leaving Suresh and Bryce in the waiting room, Darwin stepped out to call in a report to Gilroy.

A short time later, the waiting room door opened and Solis entered, followed by Earl. “Lt. Kendrick, Suresh.” He nodded to them. “Surgery is done. Dr. Harding is finishing up with Six now.” As Suresh jumped to his feet, Solis held up his hand to calm him. “Six is going to be fine. She’s going to be here for a while, however.” He glanced to Earl, leaving it to him to decide just how much detail to give.

Earl paused as Darwin entered the room; Darwin nodded at the two doctors then looked puzzled as he saw Earl was barefoot. He didn't ask; Earl didn't explain. Instead, he said, "Six suffered a stab wound that also punctured a lung. Whoever did this wanted to make survival unlikely: the blade was laced with an anti-coagulant. As Doctor Solis said, she'll be fine."

"Anti-coagulant?" Darwin frowned and silently was glad it hadn't been poison.

Bryce looked to Darwin and his face hardened again. It wasn’t enough to just stab her, Riley had to make sure she would bleed out as soon as possible. For some strange reason, he really wanted her dead.

Suresh, at the moment, didn’t care. He’d heard one thing...that Six would be fine. That’s what mattered at the moment. “When can I see her? I want to be there when she wakes up.”

“Dr. Harding will be finished in just a few minutes and she’ll be moved to recovery. If you’ll come with us, you can meet her there.” Solis looked back to Bryce and Darwin. “If you need anything, we’ll be available later, just call.” He turned to Earl. “Ready?”

"Yeah, in a second, Solis. Go ahead." He waited a moment till Solis and Suresh were out of the room. He looked at the two Security officers. "Who did this?"

Darwin frowned. "It looks like Riley Sukotav was the attacker."

"That's odd, isn't it? He goes missing, then attacks a young woman?" He shook his head and followed where Solis had gone.

**********
Lt. Bryce Kendrick
Lt. M. Darwin
Lt. Solis
Lt. Commander Earl D. Crane
Lt. Commander William Harding
Lt. Ophelia Payne
Suresh
Ensign Chanella Jackson
Crewman Sverker Leighis