Three Blue Shirts, Together By Circumstance

Posted on Mon Aug 5th, 2024 @ 2:09pm by Lieutenant JG Ki'ana & Lieutenant Maki Nishikino 'Bones' & Lieutenant Marina Kelea & Chief Warrant Officer Firax

2,051 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Midnight
Location: Starbase Frontier- Main Sickbay, Deck 26
Timeline: Barely an hour after "Brainstorming Under Siege"

With the House of Duras stepping up their game and brazenly attacking an unarmed transport on Starbase Frontier's front doorstep, sickbay looked like something straight out of a war movie- specifically the R-rated kind, that didn't shy away from the grim reality of innocents being caught in the crossfire.

The medical staff were hastily scurrying to and fro, working to stabilize the wounded the best they could while Maki and her surgical team worked around the clock to treat those with more grievous injuries. If someone passed away, there was hardly any time for them to grieve; the dead were carted off to the morgue, and Medical Staff moved onto the next patient without so much as a second thought. Right now, their priority was in saving as many survivors as possible, and matters concerning the dead could be dealt with at a later time.

Peeling off her surgical attire as she emerged from Operating Room Five and discarding it in an appropriately-designated trash chute, Maki hastily grabbed another packet from a nearby dispensary and marched back over to the main lobby, where several of the patients were still receiving treatment as they awaited surgery.

"Operating Room 5 is currently being readied for patient #54!" she announced to her medical staff, loud enough to be heard over the cries of the dead and dying. "I need Patient #54 loaded up onto a stretcher and wheeled into Operating Room 5, please!"

Marina looked across from where she’d exited one of the nurse’s rooms after changing out of her blood stained uniform and into medical scrubs, her own injuries weren’t very severe, nothing that couldn’t wait. “Can I do something to help? I’m Marina Kelea, the new Chief Counsellor.”

Maki shook her head. "Unless your surgical skills are up to date, Counselor, there's not much you're going to be able to help us with in the operating room; just be on hand to provide first aid, as well as emotional support for the younger victims.

"I need help over here!" one of the nurses called out. "Patient #62's about to bleed out!"

"Patient #78's going to need a blood transfusion, or I'm gonna lose him!" Another nurse proclaimed at the same time.

"Shit," Maki hissed, realizing she was stretched far too thin to tend to both patients at the same time. "Alright, Lieutenant, looks like I'm going to be enlisting your help sooner rather than later; you tend one patient, I'll tend to the other."

Marina nodded. “I’ll take patient #78, do we have the necessary blood supplies?”

"We keep all our blood components in a refrigeration unit down the hall," Maki explained as she grabbed a pair of latex gloves from a nearby cabinet. "Can't miss it; we got a big snowflake symbol painted on the door."

She craned her neck. "Hey, what are the species and blood types of patients 62 and 78, please?!" she called out.

"Patient #78 is Zaldan, blood type is YT Positive!" the nurse tending to patient #78 reported.

"Patient #62 is Nausicaan, blood type is TB Negative!" the other nurse replied.

Maki paused for a second to process the information.

"Right, so going to be looking for two specifically-marked bags," she carefully instructed Marina. "One's going to be labeled as 5515YT+, the other's going to be labeled 6421TB-; you can keep those two straight, Lieutenant? It's paramount that we have the right blood components on hand."

“Okay 55YT & 64TB, I can remember that!” Marina nodded. “I’ll be right back!” She looked around most Sickbay had the storage areas in the same areas of Sickbay to save confusion for medical staff. If she was right she was heading in the correct direction. “Yes!” She quickly searched for the two blood types pulling out what they had and returning to Sickbay with them. “Blood supplies!”

Firax entered the chaos of medical, he had ordered the eighty personnel to be lined up outside in the corridor in order for him to notify the staff of the rescued individuals. He looked about the chaos, unfazed by it, after all he was a Nausicaan and this was mild compared to what he had endured and seen in his youth. Seeing a medical officer he walked over to her, "Lieutenant, I have brought eighty more individuals who will require triage. I have them in the corridor being attended by my security team at this moment."

“Eighty!?” Marina looked around wondering what they were going to do. “How many medically trained people do you have? We have a patient over there in dire need of a transfusion before it’s too late! If your people can deal with that, I can triage those you’ve got outside,”

"Shh, calm down, the more you panic the more you'll bleed out..." Ki'ana had been trying to calm down the screaming crewman she was now carrying in her arms bridal style for the past three minutes. She'd gotten three fingers blown off, poor girl, and had been curled into a ball before the Kelpien found her quivering under debris. Of course, her first instinct had been to pick her up and bring her below decks to sickbay... which hadn't proved easy at all. The blonde had wailed and shook like a leaf the entire way - understandably so, really, it definitely hurt - which had led to the Kelpien trying everything to get her to lie still for a bit, just short of bashing her head on something to knock her out.

"Hello? Is anyone available to- oh." Ki'ana blinked and paused in the doorway to sickbay. Goodness gracious, was the room full... "Is- is this a bad time?"

Firax sighed as he stood in the middle of the chaos in the medical ward. He hit his combadge =/\=Captain, Lieutenant Fer'ran I have been ordered to report to the M'oQreH by Commander Tormek. I am on my way now unless either of you countermanded the order.=/\= Firax looked at the lieutenant "You may have security team Alpha, all are trained in emergency medicine up to paramedic level." He turned "Security Team Alpha , follow the instructions of this lieutenant."

"You there! Nausicaan!" Maki shouted from across the room. "What's your blood type?"

Firax turned his head and replied "TB-, why?"

"We've got a Nausicaan patient over here who's probably less than five minutes from bleeding out," Maki explained, gesticulating in the direction of Patient #62. "If you've got time and blood to spare, Chief, we could really use it right now!"

Firax sighed internally, this was the last thing he needed. He walked over were Lieutenant Nishikino and the Nausicaan were. He looked down at the Nausicaan, noting she was conscious and seemed alert. Speaking in Nausicaan he said softly "You do not wish to have the Four Winds to take your tegol to the Heart of the Sky?" the female looked him dead in the eye "It is not my time, I would be robbed of my honor' Firax nodded, "Well then let's see what the Four Winds want" With that statement Firax reached down and dipped his finger in her blood, he then drew a circle around one of the small spikes on her forehead. He then dipped his finger in her blood and drew four wavy arrows leading off the circle. Satisfied and before anyone could act, he spit into the circle of the circle. It remained perfectly within, not running at all. He nodded, "Today the Four Winds honor you, you shall live." With that statement he looked at Lieutenant Nishikino and in Federation standard, "Very well doctor, you may have my blood. The Four Winds wish her to live."

"Very well," Maki stated as she retrieved an IV Administration packet from a nearby cabinet. "Take a seat and give me your arm, please; this won't take more than a few minutes."

Firax sat as he was commanded and removed the armored shell of his EVA suit. He then rolled his sleeve up. "I am ready when you are."

Getting down on her knees, Maki carefully felt out Firax's arm until she managed to locate a vein; ripping open the packet, she applied some rubbing alcohol to the injection point to mitigate some of the pain, and then carefully inserted a needle into his skin.

Firax watched calmly as the needle was injected into his arm. The small prick was nothing in comparison to the multiple scars he had from years of training, some in the Federation would say abuse, he had endured.

Maki then proceeded to hook the IV line up to a blood bag and the two of them watched in silence as the bag began to slowly fill with a dark red liquid.

"How are the patient's life signs doing?" she asked aloud.

"Fading fast," the nurse tending to the Nausicaan woman surmised. "If we don't administer that blood transfusion in the next three minutes, I reckon we're going to lose her."

"She will live, the Four Winds decree it." replied Firax, as if the matter was already settled.

Marina was doing her best to triage those waiting outside, separating them into groups. It was taking forever but she was working as fast as she could,

Yep, definitely a bad time. Most definitely a bad time. Ki'ana rushed her screaming ward to the nearest biobed, assisted by a nurse, and laid him down. She fought to keep her steady as the nurse sedated her, and she became still. Ki'ana sighed and let her head hang for a few seconds - why did she need to go through this kind of thing, again?

Marina was making it further and further through the triage queue directing the casualties to where they needed to go. Those who could wait were directed to a waiting area, the rest were graded on severity of injury.

"Come on..." Maki muttered as she waited for the bag to fill past a certain point. "Just a little..."

Right as she was about to say it, the bag topped off, and without a moment to spare, Maki hastily detatched the IV line from Firax's arm, hooked up a clean IV line, and then performed an identical process with the female Nausicaan. The three of them then sat back and watched with baited breath as the blood began to trickled from the bag and into the Nausicaan's arm.

"...Life signs are stabilizing," the nurse reported. "Pulse is weak, but returning to normal."

Maki sat back and let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t relax just yet” Marina offered a wry smile. “There’s a whole lot more patients waiting to be seen! I’ve thinned them out as much as I can.”

Firax snarled then let out a laugh, sounding like an earth rooster, "Trust me lieutenant I am not relaxing. If I am no longer needed, I have another post to get to." With that statement he stood up, all 7'9" towering over the others. "May the Four Winds favor you and watch over you."

"Four winds? I'd love to learn more." Ki'ana piped up. The front of her shirt from the belly downwards was stained red from carrying the screaming woman all the way, but she looked none the worse for wear at least. "When things aren't quite so chaotic."

Firax looked at Ki'ana, "Are all Kelpien that curious about other species religion? The Four Winds are the Gods of Nausicaan people, they are all about and carry our tegol to the . I suppose when there is time, I can educate you on the Four Winds."

A nurse poked her head through the doorway. "Patient #54 is ready to operate, Doctor," she reported.

"I'll be there in just a minute," Maki replied before turning to Marina. "I can trust you to look after things while I'm operating, Lieutenant?"

Marina nodded. “I’ll do my upmost to keep things running smoothly Lieutenant.”

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