Lt Alex Storm - A Flicker of Hope
Karen Morris
((OOC: Any actions attributed to Roy were done with Carter's permission.))
((Corridor near engineering, Deck 4, USS Karnack))
Alex had never seen Roy perform surgery. Honestly, she never wanted to. She absolutely detested the sight of blood and anything inside the skin. They were meant to remain inside - invisible. But talking about the ship in that manner - made sense to her.
Storm: If you were a surgeon operating on a person in a similar state to this ship, how would you go about saving them?
Bancroft: ::ticking his fingers:: Intensive care. A team of specialists. Rooms full of equipment. ::idly:: And probably a religious representative, if they were a person of faith. ::beat:: Out here? Field medicine’s ugly. You don’t fix everything – you just try and stop the dying. Keep as much blood on the inside as possible. Protect the airway. Stabilize until you can get them to advanced care.
Jovenan tried not to grimace, but despite her visceral reaction, she knew he was right. Lose a leg to save the body, it was a perfectly reasonable sacrifice. Or in this case, it was better to lose an arm, since they needed their legs for running.
Silveira: Response
Storm: So, how would we best replicate that here?
Bancroft: Prioritize the big breaches first – the structural hemorrhages. Mid-sized ones? Flesh wounds. Patch them just enough to hold pressure. Anything stiff enough ought to do. The little ones? Those are your capillary bleeders. Annoying and messy, but not fatal. If we’re short on materials, we accept some loss there.
Jovenan: Fair. Minor ruptures can’t leak out the atmosphere anywhere as fast as the big ones, so we might even make it to the space without patching them. After that, it’s a question of how far we need to go before being picked up.
Silveira: Response
Gesturing to Bancroft, Lt Storm turned to Jovenan.
Storm: Feasible? Or, no?
Bancroft: I’m spectacularly unqualified to comment on starship engineering. But on a patient? ::beat:: Hard, but absolutely feasible.
Jovenan turned to Vitor. Besides being her boyfriend and providing her comfort and support just by being there with her, he was also her fellow Lt Commander and a Department Head. Neither of them was the superior to the other, so she wouldn’t be the one to make the decisions alone. After leading a few teams on her own, sharing the responsibility of command was a relief.
Jovenan: I don’t think we have any options. The Doctor’s, um, triage-style order of priorities is the way to go in my opinion. It might not be feasible, but it’s the best we can do, and if that’s not enough, then… ::shrugs::
Silveira: Response
With decisions made, everyone was able to get to work - mostly. The angle of the sun was falling behind the Carnak rapidly casting strange shadows across and down the corridor. Alex set an acetylene torch near where they would make the first weld. As she looked around for the right piece of metal to start the weld, Roy walked by and handed her a chemlight. Alex looked at it and then at Roy, not sure that little bit of light would help all that much
Bancroft: We’re rapidly losing light – we’ll need these to get anything accomplished before too long.
Jovenan: Let’s not waste time. I would imagine this corridor is the best place to start, what do you think?
Alex held her glowstick up with a grin.
Storm: Thanks.
Then she slipped it into her pocket. She was going to need two hands to do any welding, and she figured the torch would provide enough light for that.
Silveira: Response
Bancroft: ::whispering:: Listen. ::cocking his head toward the entrance to Main Engineering:: Do you hear that?
But as she turned to get a panel, Alex stopped suddenly. Her eyes searching for the possible tickling she felt at the back of her brain. Brexis wouldn’t …
Jovenan: ::whisper:: Is that one of ours?
Silveira/Storm: Response
The howl rocked the entire corridor, dislodging one of the panels that they had leaned against the wall with a loud screech and a clatter. Alex grabbed her head, squeezed her eyes closed, and doubled over.
Bancroft: Alex! ::turning towards Jovenan and Silveira:: They're here! We need to find something – anything – that’s cold, quickly!
But a second later, a warm hand squeezed her shoulder, and another settled at the base of her neck. She opened her eyes only a fraction to see Roy’s blue eyes.
Jovenan: Run! Get to the Jefferies tubes, they probably can’t get in!
Could she have scrambled to the Jeffries tube? Likely, Alex could have, but it would have taken longer. Holding her head with one of her hands, she gestured the torch with the other.
Storm: Grab the torch. If they do get in, burn them!
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Alex heard the hatch open, and one or two people scramble inside. Pushing through the pain, Alex climbed in and reached for the acetylene torch so Roy could climb in next to her.
Jovenan: Close it, lock it! We can’t help anyone by running headlong towards the predators!
Pain reverberated through Alex’s head and slipped into her muscles. She clenched her jaw against it.
Not a time to give into it, Alex.
She tilted her head down toward the waning light as the door closed. She couldn’t see Roy lock it, but she heard a spin and click. Not even a second later, a loud impact struck the hatch. Alex jumped and her hand fell to the machete. It was one thing to see the creatures coming, but it was another to be in complete darkness…
Darkness?
She fished her hand inside her pocket and pulled her chem light. An eerie green illuminated the space. Handing the torch back to Roy, she unsheathed her machete. If a creature breached the hatch, she’d make sure they paid one way or another.
Storm: Should we climb up the tube or should we wait them out here?
Another ferocious scream rent the air. Alex could feel the vibrations through the metal.
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Jovenan: Could we try to lure them in somewhere and lock them in? The doors and bulkheads would surely stop them or at least slow them down.
Alex’s words were measured as she ignored the pain in her head.
Storm: I don’t see that ending any other way but badly. They’re faster than us, stronger than us, and we’re stuck in a jeffries tube with no idea where is safe and/or secure.
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Another screech echoed through the corridor, but this one didn’t feel quite as close as the last one had. Alex took a breath and leaned her head back to close her eyes for just a moment mentally fighting against the pain, but instead of feeling the cold metal of the tube, she felt a bony shoulder.
She hadn’t realized that Roy’s shoulder was under hers.
Move and apologize, Alex.
But two weeks of living on guard and trying not to hope was enough. She didn’t think a friend would grudge her a little respite against his shoulder. Somehow, through the most innocent of contact, a warmth spread through her. An ember of comfort. And more dangerously, a flicker of hope.
Storm: I think they’re moving off.
Everything in her cried out not to even suggest moving.
Silveira/Bancroft/Jovenan: Response
Storm: It’s not going to be safe to be out again until it’s daylight. How do you want to handle this, Commanders?
Alex tilted her head up to look at Sil and Jovenan.
Silveira/Bancroft/Jovenan: Response
Without looking at Roy, she lowered her head to its prior position.
Storm: We should probably wait a little longer in here, just to be sure that they’re gone.
Silveira/Bancroft/Jovenan: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC!
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2