Aftermath

Posted on Thu Jan 30th, 2014 @ 6:11am by Admiral Lucius Hawke & Admiral Ricky Wegener & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & El'Shar Blackhorse

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Archadia III

* * * Main Sickbay * * *

“Will!” Kiere’s voice rang out in the corridor outside Harding’s office and moments later she dashed in. “Your terminal! Emergency call from the Captain Blackhorse!”

Will was already pressing the panel on his desk and the message routed through from C&C began playback.

...and we have five wounded in need of immediate medical attention.

Will was on his feet and began issuing orders. “Call in an emergency team from the Imhotep Center, they are the closest and alert the staff here. I’ll dispatch a team to the planet.” As Kiere ran back out, he had to wonder if the visiting doctor didn’t, perhaps, have a little ESP to go along with his Vulcan telepathy. Whatever, it looked like he and Dr. Crane were going to be put to good use. He tapped his comm badge and began talking as he, too, exited his office at a brisk trot.

* * * Solis’ Quarters * * *

Solis was pulling on a shirt, even as he listened to the emergency call playback as well. When it finished, he ordered the computer to get hold of Admiral Wegener down on the planet and began to gather his equipment as he waited for an answer.

=/\= “Yeah, this is Wegener.” =/\= came the quick reply.

“Admiral Wegener, this is Dr. Solis up on the station. Dr. Crane and I are on our way. Dr. Harding is prepping in sickbay now. Our ETA is two minutes.”

=/\= Good deal. We have one with a piece of the shuttle sticking out of his chest, but he’s not bleeding out, so it must be internal. He’ll need the most attention. Two have plasma burns and one of those has a few compound fractures. The other two just seem to be a bit shocky, but they’re conscious. =/\=

“Thanks, that helps. See you in a few.” He closed the channel and left his quarters yelling for Earl.

Having already gotten the wake-up call from Doc Harding, Earl D. Crane was striding along the corridor. One part of him noted, with horror, that Solis’ quarters were only a few doors down from his; would he never be rid of the man, his aggravating travel mate? “Hush! I’m right here. Geez. I was really hoping to not see you for far longer than this,” he grumped as Solis fell into step with him.

“Hush, you know you love me.” Despite the circumstances, he grinned at Earl. “When I offered our services in case of an emergency, however, I didn’t think it would be this quick.”

“You? YOU! You’re the one making me leave Eh’lana?” Earl turned a murderous eye on Solis as his hands curled into fists. “Remind me that I owe you a black eye. After we save these people.”

“So noted. Besides, you always enjoy a little excitement.” He paused as they entered the turbolift. “Besides, you are older than me by a couple of centuries at least. I do my part to spice up your life. Well, not in the manner that Eh’lana spices it up but hey I do my part.”

“Eh’lana was doing just fine spicing my life up,” Earl grumbled, still casting an evil eye at Solis. “Wait... you volunteered to leave Jujubee? Trouble in the waters there?”

“Nope but she does have a job and got called in on an attempted murder charge. Some goon tried to kill the chief JAG officer and their law clerk. Never a dull moment.” The lift stopped and Solis led the way out and down to the main transporter room.

“Hmmphf,” Earl harrumphed and followed Solis. Once in the transporter room, he changed his attitude, smiling at the transporter tech. “Everything ready to go, Ensign?”

“Yes, sir, just step onto the platform,” the Ensign answered.

“I’d really rather have that doorway room we had on ...,” Earl was commenting to Solis as the Ensign activated the transporter.

* * * Archadia III * * *

“Sir, just stay still,” El’Shar kept repeating. One of the first two pulled out of the wreckage who were the least injured, kept wanting to get up and demanded to know what was going on. “You’ve been in an accident and we’re trying to--Rick!” she yelled. The man was on his feet and was walking toward the shuttle.

Rick put his hand on the man’s shoulder to stop him. “Whoa, fella’. You can’t go back that way.”

The man instinctively grabbed Rick’s hand, twisted it and attempted to throw him on the ground. The Admiral was surprised but managed to throw a backhand to the man’s face, which surprised him, and took him to the ground.

“You can’t go back there!” Rick yelled. “It could blow at any minute and I can’t let you near it if that happens!”

He had the man’s arm twisted behind him and a knee in his back, pinning him to the ground. “When I let go are you going to stay put or do I need to hogtie you?”

After a few grunts and groans he finally went limp. “Fine. I’ll stay.” He then added, “I’m sorry. I’m not really sure what’s happening.”

Rick stood and helped the man up. “Are you okay?”

The man, about four inches shorter than Rick, felt his face. “I’ll be fine.” He looked around at the wreckage and then at El’Shar and her patients. “I’m sorry, I really am. I think...I think I just need to sit.”

Rick helped him back to the ground and looked up as three Archadian military shuttles landed just before an Archadian security forces shuttle arrived.

Right on their heels, two shimmers of blue appeared and moments later, they coalesced to reveal Earl and Solis. Solis took in the scene in a moment, then turned his attention to Rick.

“Admiral Wegener, I’m Lt. Commander Solis and this is Lt. Commander Earl Crane.”

Rick nodded and waved them over to their patients. “This is the pilot, he took the brunt of what had to have been an explosion. This is Captain Blackhorse, retired,” he added, so they wouldn’t get caught up in everyone’s ranks. “She’s been doing a hell of a job assessing the patients and can probably tell you more.”

As more medical personnel arrived and began swooping over the patients, El stood and addressed the doctors. “The pilot’s been impaled by a piece of the shuttle, it appears to be very close to his heart. This one,” she pointed to the female, “has plasma burns on the left side of her body and two compound fractures. The equipment advised a narcotic for pain relief, which I applied. He has plasma burns and has been in and out of consciousness,” she said, moving to the next patient. “Since he was mostly out I didn’t give any pain relief but he’ll probably need it soon. And these two,” she pointed to the man Rick had tussled with, and the other man lying on the ground, “seem to only be in shock. I didn’t pick up any major injuries other than maybe a concussion or two.”

Assessing what Blackhorse had already done, Earl grunted and mused to himself that he and Solis weren’t really needed. “We’ll need to have the chest wound transported back to the ship; Harding can do the surgery needed to remove that piece without killing the fellow. Same with the compound fracture girl. This one,” he touched the forehead of the man with plasma burns and looked him over carefully, “We can treat here. Sollie, you have a regenerator?” From his own pocket, he pulled a hypospray and began to dial in a dose of painkillers. “Any idea what caused the crash?”

“I do.” Solis knelt down, opened his case, then carefully began to cut away sections of the man’s uniform to give him access. He frowned then and shook his head. “This one’s going to have to go to the station too, his clothes are fused to the skin and that’s not something I want to deal with on dirt.” He glanced up at the Archadian security officers and left the women to Wegener to deal with.

“Hmm... that is ugly,” Earl idly commented as he dosed the man with painkillers. “I’m going to send the chest wound to Harding,” he told Solis and moved to that man’s side. He ran a scan of the man, noting he was neither human nor Archadian and his uniform wasn’t Fleet. A tap of his commbadge and a quick conversation with the transporter Ensign saw the man disappear in a shimmer of blue.

“We might as send them all, assuming there’s no issues with that Admiral?” Solis looked up to Rick.

Rick turned from the Archadian security officer he had been speaking to. “Not a problem. Their security will be sending personnel to question the occupants once they’re available to speak. They are to be given full access, as long as there is no medical issue pressing.”

Turning back to the officer he continued explaining what had happened, what all he and El saw and did. “We were unable to contact your forces directly so we summoned medical personnel from 900 and had them notify you.”

“Understood, Admiral,” the officer replied.

Rick continued. “El’Shar and I will prepare statements if you require them and have them sent to your station. You can contact 900 if you require further from us.”

With a nod the security officer returned to the rest of his group now surrounding the shuttle. The flames had been put out and they were beginning their investigation.

He found El’Shar standing beside the man who had tried to throw Rick to the ground. “You were amazing, you know,” he said.

A slim smile crossed her lips. “You did most of the heavy lifting. I had this machine to tell me what to do.”

“Nonetheless amazing, my dear,” he said, pulling her close for a sidelong hug. Turning his attention to the passenger, now sitting up, he asked, “And how are you feeling now? Head clearing up?”

He nodded. “A bit, yes. And I must apologize for my actions back there again. And I must also thank you for pulling us from the wreckage.”

“No apology necessary and you’re welcome for the rest. I’m just glad we were able to get you all out before the shuttle went up in flames.”

The man stood, slowly. “I’ve heard them call you admiral. Is that correct?”

“It is,” Rick replied. “Admiral Ricky Wegener, commanding officer of Starbase 900. Just in orbit of this planet. And this is former Captain El’Shar Blackhorse.”

“Irdian Moff. And thank you as well, Captain Blackhorse. He’s right, you were quite amazing with helping my friends.”

“El’Shar will suffice,” she replied with a nod. “Do you know what caused the crash?”

He shook his head. “No. We were on final approach when something exploded in the passenger compartment. Our pilot did his best to control the descent until his own console…” Irdian stopped talking and wobbled on his feet. “Ohh...I think I need to sit down again.”

Rick took his arm and helped him back to the ground. “El, could you let the docs know that he’ll need to be seen? He must have really banged his head.”

“It...it exploded and, and…” Irdian tried to continue.

“That’s enough for now,” Rick said. “We can get a statement later. Right now you just need to rest until my medical staff sees to you.”

El returned with Solis. “Doctor, this man keeps having moments of weakness and dizziness. He may have taken a harder bump to his head than I initially thought.”

Solis leaned down and lifted each of the man’s eyelids, then nodded. “Concussion.” He slipped an arm around the man, and thanks to his Vulcan strength, lifted him easily. “We’ll be beaming them all up to Piper. Ready to get outta here Earl?”

Earl had already sent one, the most critical, back and had stabilized the others. “Yeah, let’s,” he nodded and called for transport. A moment later, the wounded, Solis and he all disappeared in a haze of lights.

Rick looked around. With exception of the Archadian forces, he and El were the last from 900 on the ground. “Well, my dear, it looks as if we can finish our vacation now. Three days left to enjoy what used to be a quiet neighborhood.”

She smiled. “It’s funny how that happens. New neighbors roll in and just cause a mess of everything.”

Holding hands they found the security officer Rick had been speaking to earlier. He made sure they had his information and told them where they would be for the next few days. With everything in order, and their work now finished, they had to get back to their ‘us’ time.

After some time, El’Shar spoke. “So,” she said, glancing over to Rick, “that was fun.”

“Not exactly what I’d call a relaxing vacation, though.” He looked over at her, admiring her ability to still look serene and beautiful even after working a disaster. “I’m just glad you were there with me.”

She squeezed his hand. “Me too.”

**************

Admiral Ricky Wegener
Hero Of the Day

Captain El’Shar Blackhorse (ret.)
Moonlighting as a Medical Officer

Lt. Commander Solis, M.D.
Jumping In

Lt. Commander Earl D. Crane, M.D.
Grumpy