A JP by Lieutenant Jania Nis & Ensign Woolheater - Stuart Jackson - Part 2 of 2
Radamio
As he spoke, Jania patted him down to feel for major wounds or serious blood loss. Nothing fatal, but he sure was banged up.
Nis: Does this hurt?
He grimaced.
Woolheater: Nnnnnyeah-only when you do that.
She smiled reassuringly at him.
Nis: Feels like a broken rib. We suspect that’s the worst of it, but the osteo regenerator should fix it up quick. :: biting her lip :: So a fight, huh? With whom?
-- And now the continuation - Part Two
(( Medical Ward - Deep Space 14 ))
Sam didn't want to say and he thought about giving a false name or saying he didn't know. But he also knew that she could look at the station security logs and figure it out. And your Doctor is one of the three persons you never lie to. He hesitated a second, hesitated again and then told her.
Woolheater: Transporter tech, matter energy specialist I think he said. Crewman Jackson. Stuart Jackson. When I went to get arms from the small arms locker on Deck 07; I found him hiding. He was terrified. But he survived, alone, for all those hours. Hiding from the things? Y'know.
Nis: A crew member did this to you?
Sam nods.
Woolheater: He lost his wife. He was there. In the arboretum. I lowered the forcefield. They charged us all…so fast. I…shot at so many of them. I was trying to stun them. It was them or us. You remember? And we had to protect Vala and the ship.
He reacted as the bone was healed. It was a hurt that felt good after it was over. His lip and nose were bleeding and dripped off of his face and onto his civilian shirt.
Jania glanced at her own hands, unable to look him in the eyes. She doubted there was a person on the ship who didn’t have nightmares from that experience.
Nis: Yes, we remember.
Woolheater: Yeah, I know. ::beat and looks down:: He was so angry. I shot a lot of crew that day. And the forcefield when it came back up? It cut her down. Right in front of him. He could only watch.
Nis: You couldn’t stop him?
Woolheater: At the time they were those things. All I knew was to keep firing at full stun, which was barely effective. They didn't look like crew. I was there. And…I guess I know a little bit about that. So, when he came at me on the Promenade I just…I just let him. It felt like the right thing to do…it did.
He looked up and used the sleeve to wipe away the blood.
Nis: Oh, Sam …
Tears formed in her eyes at the memory of firing at her own crew members as they breached the forcefield.
Woolheater: I think I'm a bleed all over your nice biobed.
But most of the blood had already been auto-sanitized and removed by the biobed; that’s one of the things that made them so nice.
Nis: She’d be alive if you’d behaved differently. We’d be dead if you’d behaved differently. So would a lot more people on this ship.
Woolheater: I suppose so. Sorry Doctor Nis, its hard to talk about. You know.
It seemed like the Doctor did know.
Nis: We’d guess she’s not the first person you weren’t able to save, huh?
As she spoke, she whisked the dermal regenerator over laceration number six or seven.
The cut on his lip was first and then on the side of his face. Tender mercies that Stuart wasn't a ring wearing kind of guy.
Woolheater: No ma'am. I remember all of them though. I know it's cold; but sometimes I'm glad I don't know their names.
As a doctor, Jania usually had access to the names. Sometimes she even knew minor biographical details. Sometimes she’d met the partner and child waiting off-stage and been forced to give her best measured hopefulness before returning to a surgery room to watch someone die. But she understood the appeal, and couldn’t fault him for it.
Nis: Either way, they all seem to come back to you at times like this.
Sam paused as she repaired the cut on his eye ridge. He had a strong eyebrow ridge. It tended to bleed when hit.
Woolheater: They do indeed.
Nodding, Jania considered her recent dreams.
Nis: Why can’t we ever dream about that birdfish we helped hatch? :: pause :: Sorry. We’re normally optimistic, but that mission really took it out of us.
The pain of the encounter, the physical trauma was getting better and the bruises and cuts, one by one were cleansed and repaired.
Woolheater: You don't have to apologize to me Doctor Nis. I understand. I was scared too. As scared as I've ever been. There were a couple of moments where I thought, yeah this is…we're not surviving this. You remember? Commander Nilsen found…like… the one good thing to keep us on track. And, yeah. Here we are. Most of us anyway. Then there's people like Jackson…
Sam didn't finish the sentence and the words just stuck in his throat. He didn't say anything and just pulled his shirt down now that the cuts and bruises were repaired.
Nis: Every mission has had its sacrifices, and every mission has its bright spots.
Woolheater: I've a hard time seeing any bright spots in that mission, honestly Doctor Nis.
Nis: Like … well, we got to get to know you better. :: patting him on the shoulder, then chuckling dryly :: And we’re unexpectedly co-author on a paper about a person who became a tree.
Woolheater: Yeah. A person turned into a tree. Have they figured out how the entity did that yet? Vala can't stay a tree forever. What are we gonna do at Christmas time…decorate her?
Jania had heard of Christmas, but she’d forgotten its meaning. She assumed he was trying to lighten the mood, so she let loose a small chuckle and shrugged.
Sam felt his ribs and his body, she had even taken care of the nasty sting from his new tattoo. That made him smile, the first time since entering.
Woolheater: Thanks! I feel…its all good again…I'm good then?
Nis: Yeah. You’ll be fine. :: pause :: But you might want to see Dr. Salo if you think you deserve to get your butt kicked.
Woolheater: Mmmm-hmmm…
Nis: Where is Stuart now?
Woolheater: Station brig. Probably getting processed. With no charges filed its up to the local magistrate. Most likely they'll just cite and release. Maybe a fine for the broken kiosk. Unless that was a Federation merchant. Either way, he'll probably get a write up. Nothing compared to what he's going through now. I don't think he needs more…crud hitting him…can't they just leave him alone?
Nis: We don’t want to punish him. We want to make sure he gets help. We’re all a family here, right?
Sam nodded.
Woolheater: Of course. He's not going to lose his job right? I'm supposed to go down and make a statement. Is there something I could say to…help?
Nis: We’re sure you can. Might be best to put it in writing, though. Or a private conversation with Nesre. He probably doesn’t want to be publicly forgiven by us right now--if anything, he’s the one who needs to forgive us.
Although she’d said ‘us’ to be sympathetic to him, after it came out, thoughts swirled in her mind.
Sam got up from the biobed and his shirt was ruined. It looked like a bloody mess. He wore white t-shirt, also not in great shape but he wouldn't need to worry about walking the catwalk anytime soon.
Jania raised an eyebrow at the sight of it. Although Sam was acting like it was nothing, if his uniform had been that damaged, he’d allowed that crewman to beat him pretty bad.
Nis: He sure did a number on you, Sam.
Sam looked at her and asked.
Woolheater: Are you ok? You were hurt bad.
There were scars on her arm the dermal regenerator had failed to clean. She’d been banged up in missions from time to time--actually, she had a tendency to get banged up a lot--but this was perhaps the worst.
But that wasn’t it. Something was slowly dawning on her.
Nis: We also … we also recommended raising the forcefield. :: tearing up :: It was our mistake as much as yours.
Woolheater: Hey…listen? I know…I feel what you're going through. I feel it myself. It was an impossible situation. Like you said, if we didn't do what we did, we would have been overrun. For sure Doctor Nis. They were coming for us. It's not like you timed the forcefield to hurt anyone. It was there to reduce the number of targets.
Nis: If you don’t think we should feel guilt about it, why should you?
He blinked and realized he'd been outmaneuvered.
She hadn’t exactly planned to ‘get’ him, but she felt satisfied that she did.
Woolheater: I hear you, Doctor Nis. I…
He almost said her name, Emily. But he stopped. Then continued.
Woolheater: …he and a lot of others were either transformed or are injured, or worse. And there still aren't any answers as to why. What that thing was. We're all just lucky to be alive.
Nis: :: swallowing :: All we’re saying is, if Stuart needs someone else to hit, we guess, you can send him here.
Woolheater: That's not gonna happen. He got it out. I think. I don't really enjoy being a punching bag y'know?
Jania nodded and lowered the biobed so he could step down.
Nis: Tonight’s noodle night in the writers’ room; some of the nurses and we will be there. We’d love for you to come.
Woolheater: Noodle night ay? Sounds good. OK. You're on. I'll be there. Thanks for fixin' me. Thanks for…being you.
Nis: Be well, Sam. You don’t deserve his abuse anymore than he deserved to lose her.
Woolheater: No argument from me Doctor Nis.
After he left, Jania got a coffee from the replicator and collapsed into her office chair. She leaned her head on her hand and felt the hard wood of the desk digging into her elbow. Sam didn’t deserve it, because that meant she did too. She tried to think of what she would’ve said if Stuart had confronted her instead. Could she have earnestly said she did her best not to let anyone get hurt? Or would she have let him scream at her, let him attack her, the same as Sam had done?
Nurse: Hello, Sir.
Nis: Mmm?
Nurse: You wanted us to let you know when the next medicine shipment is in. It arrived. Are you okay?
Nis: There are no easy answers with Starfleet, are there?
Nurse: Uh … no sir.
Nis: Stuart Jackson. What was his wife’s name?
Nurse: Not sure, sir. I can look it up.
Nis: Please do.---
Chief Medical Officer of Physical Health
USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850
O240108JN2