Working As One

Posted on Tuesday 10 November 2020 @ 03:49 by Lieutenant Nir’anyar

Mission: A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Location: Sickbay
990 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The day was a quiet one and Nir'anyar had not been able to switch off. Something she had struggled with for some time now. The mine had always been a noisy, bustling place and the quiet of her quarters and the starship as a whole was still very alien to her. She had opted to check in with sickbay, perhaps make herself useful in some way.

As usual sickbay had its usual number of patients and duty medics. As the ship in itself was more a flying starbase, in other words a city in space, it was no surprise. Sickbay was also the local doctor's surgery that you would find on any colony that would cater to its civilian population. One of the communal hubs of any community.

"Doctor!" she greeted the Andorian women as she approached, calling her by her designation and not rank as a sign of respect between learned scientists rather than military grunts. "My shift does not start for another hour or so but I was not able to settle... I thought I would come down early and offer help as needed!"

Kyhl looked up and smiled a tired smile. "Thank you Doctor. You can assist me with this patient." She motioned to the unconscious young man on the biobed.

He looked a mess from a simple eyeball examination. Lacerations, contusions and in places obvious signs of broken bones. Still, not one to rely simply on an eyeball diagnosis she took a tricorder on the tool table and came to stand at his side opposite her superior officer.
"Several broken bones, perforated eardrum, deep tissue bruising
and a shattered phalange... That must have been some fall?"

"When the power went out he was working in the jefferies tubes and took quite a tumble trying to find his way out." Kyhl stated quickly. "I've repaired most of the critical damage, but he's not out of the woods yet."

"I see you have already brought down the subdural haematoma casing pressure on the dura mater of his brain".
She moved around the biobed to take a look at the shatters phalange which would be a major source of pain if not treated soon. She swapped her tricorder for the bone knitter and ran it over the finer a number of times and within seconds the bruising and disfigurement of the appendage started to correct. Once done she moved around to his side and having retained the bone knitter she started running that over the fractured ribs.

"Could you please start knitting his ribs together on your side please."

"Already ahead of you Doctor... My apologies for not having reported in before now. I have been trying to find my feet here on Merlin and it slipped my mind in truth."
Nir'anyar said while still focusing on the task at hand.

"Don't worry about it." Kyhl said without looking up. "Merlin is a large ship and I'm still finding my place as well." She gently pressed on the patients chest and listened for a moment. The pressure she applied helped with his breathing as she suspected it would.

Reaching back to the table behind her, Kyhl grabbed a small probe and pressed it against where her hand had been on his chest. "You might get some strange readings for a moment while I set him up."

"Understood", the gentle hum of the bone knitter faded as the Benzite finished knitting together the breaks. "I'm guessing you have not been here long either?"

"I'm new to Merlin myself, which is why I've been in sickbay as much as I have. Regardless of the ship or starbase, sickbay is always sickbay."

"Any what better place to get to know the people here than in sickbay... With this size of this ship it truly is a travelling city."
Placing down the hand held devise she once again took up the tricorder. Fluctuations in his respiratory system as predicted but the scanner was showing that the damage to his ribs had been successfully repaired.
"I will monitor while you finish" knowing that this would be the final stage of his healing.

"So, what got you interested in starfleet?" Kyhl asked as she continued to work. "I'm curious as I know I joined in a bit late myself."

"I wanted to explore... Being Benzite means that is more challenging. We can leave our home planet with a breather but it is cumbersome and often gets in the way with away missions so not very practical. Alternatively we can opt to have the surgery to allow our lunges to process oxygen... I chose the surgery but that in turn raises its own difficulties so I opted for Starfleet as I would be able to practice medicine, still go on away missions but have the medical care to hand that I could need should my lungs begin to revert back to their original state".
It was all so simple and straight forward to her but unless you belong to the minority of species that needed some form of medical aid to live away from their home planet then they could never truly understand.

"I get that." Kyhl replied as she continued her work. "Some procedures I had when I was younger sparked my interest in medicine. And Starfleet is allowing me to expand my skills beyond my own kind."

There was now a noticeable easy to the young man's breathing. Kyhl put away the equipment to be sanitized and quickly sanitized her own hands. "A little rest to make sure everything sticks and he'll be good as new."

"I will monitor him until the end of my shift and if there is no degenration of his condition I shall discharge him!" Anya said.

"Come, let's grab a coffee before the next emergency." Kyhl offered.

"That sounds agreeable" the Benzite snapped her tricorder closed and sanitized her own hands before following the Chief Medical Officer.

OFF