1stLt Samuel Woolheater – Vital Signs
Radamio
1stLt Samuel Woolheater – Vital Signs
((Sickbay - Deck 05 - USS Octavia E. Butler))
After a time, when it was clear that the Mercenary was not going to try something stupid a second time, Sam lowered his rifle, a quick assist to follow the Colonel’s command to the mercenaries.
The Eagle fire team had arrived to relieve the initial Marine away team. For the moment, Sam was rather happy to have ten Marines here in sickbay. Although looking at the faces of the Medical team and the constant, vocal complaints from Doctor Straz, he knew that they should lessen their presence, not yet, though.
Sam reassigned positions so every person had a fresh Marine for backup. The situation was tense, and the away team was fatigued.
When the situation had stabilized, Greaves spoke.
Greaves: It should be clear by now that whatever your half-baked plan was in coming here, it has failed.
Nis: That said, we’d like to hear the rest of the steps for the biobed.
Sam thought that Nis had a heart as big as a star. Most people, after being held at knifepoint, would not want to help their attacker too much. But the Doctor seemed interested in continuing with this strange bed that could turn people into stone. Sam wasn’t sure. He heard the nurse Zeka talk about how hardening the skin would happen. And that made Sam pause and wonder if some or all of the “statues” that they had seen down on Marohu III were not “statues” at all? Rather poor suckers who had gotten stoned or marble-ized? He didn’t know, and he didn’t need to spend any mental energy on it.
Mercenary 2: I don’t know…
Woolheater: ::to the Merc:: Really. You don’t know. Ten minutes ago, who knew what a scleratoblerone was? You sure you don’t remember?
Mercenary 3: Response
And there was the confirmation. The Zet were behind this whole thing.
Nis: If the Zet is dying, it’s our obligation to help him, enemy or no.
Greaves: This Zet needs this medical treatment. Who is it?
Mercenary 2: Some guy named Dius or something. We’ve never worked with him before. He sure does haaaaate you all though.
Doctor Nis, Doctor Straz, Nurse Zeka, and the Colonel all knew who “the Zet” was. Or, they seemed to know who this Zet was. Sam had no idea. The only Zet he’d ever seen was an image in the ship’s records from the Koreli IV incident.
Woolheater: Yeah. That figures.
Greaves: And what, he’s just gonna sneak aboard and into Sickbay?
Mercenary 2: Look, I don’t know. He poisoned us and held the antidote over our head until we could get him aboard this ship and build this medical bed thing. He wasn’t exactly specific on the details!
There was a lesson there for the Dosi, but Sam wasn’t one to gloat.
Woolheater: Poisoned you. OK. So let’s start there. Poisoned you with what?
Doctor Nis picked up on the poison part.
Nis: Responses
Mercenary 3: Response
The doors hissed open again, and every Marine in Sickbay tensed up. Sam’s hand dropped instinctively to his phaser rifle, eyes tracking the motion. Boots shifted. The rhythm of breathing changed. For half a second, he thought this was it…the next wave.
Then he saw who it was.
Commander Katsim Peri, Science Chief. Pushing a hover cart like she’d just come back from resupply. The tension broke in the room like a wire going slack. Sam eased his stance, weapon still ready but low. Even Greaves looked a little lighter seeing her standing there in one piece.
But the cart, yeah, that was the surprise. If the Commander had wheeled one of those big cakes with a person inside who pops out, Sam couldn’t have been more surprised.
On it lay another Dosi merc, decked out and inked up like a holo-poster for bad decisions. Unconscious. And Sam grinned and wondered what she had done to deck this guy flat out. Uppercut? A big mallet from the ACME company? Whatever it was she used, Sam took in the details, tattoos, jewelry, the way the body had been handled, and started piecing together what that meant.
He didn’t say a word. Just admired that from such a small frame came some first-class knockouts. He shifted his grip on the rifle, eyes flicking to Greaves. Whatever this was, it wasn’t over yet.
Katsim: He collapsed.
Samuel slung his rifle and moved to get the man off the cart and onto a biobed.
Woolheater: Yes, ma’am.
Nis: Responses
Woolheater and Sgt. Torvik hoisted the Dosi onto a biobed. He was a thick slab of Dosi beefcake, but the Marines got him onto the biobed.
The Colonel moved to speak to the Commander while Sam waited by as a Nurse began a preliminary scan.
Greaves: Peri, the skipper must have been with you. We got a partial call from her. Any idea what’s going on?
Katsim: There was an unauthorised presence on the bridge.
Nis: Response
Sam took a visual survey of Sickbay again. With the north access sealed and the other entrance covered, the likelihood of more trouble was low. That left Deck 07 and the Brig. That could become a powder keg if all of the remaining Mercenaries decided to rally and overwhelm what Security forces were down there. Woolheater saw a look come across the Colonel’s face.
Katsim: If she called you, she wants you up there.
The look on Greaves’ face was not one Sam liked.
Woolheater: Colonel? What are your orders, sir?
Greaves/Nis: Response
Sam saw Commander Peri walk by him, and he gave her a short nod in acknowledgement. She went to Doctor Nis.
Woolheater: Yes, sir. We’ll hold things down here, Colonel.
The Chief of Science addressed the Chief Medical Officer.
Katsim: You’ve found the poison?
It seemed to Sam that they were already hard at work on identifying the poison.
Nis: Response
Katsim: Have you examined the chemical composition? It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.
Nis: Response
Sam’s mind switched gears. With the Colonel moving topside to retake the bridge, Sickbay was his AO. Small. Confined. Vital. He reasoned that the “antidote” had to be easy and swift to deploy. And he wondered if it could be airborne. And if it were airborne, then a whole lot of Dosi could suddenly become “well”.
- Perimeter: two access points, clear sightlines, no cover. The fight stopped at the “Stitch Line.” Marines in pairs, overlapping fire. Sickbay could not become a war zone.
- Detainees: Dosi mercs. Unpredictable. One wrong move and you had a knife fight in a room full of medics. Restraints tight. Sedatives logged. One Marine eyes-on each.
- Personnel: the doctors were unarmed and essential. Keep them working; keep people alive.
- Comms: stay linked. Feed telemetry, movement, and heat signatures. Be the fallback point.
- Contingencies: stun grenades staged, corridor forcefields primed. If they breached, they’d hold until the force fields came up or they ran out of air.
Comms were shaky and full of Zeticular advertisements. Reinforcements and supplies would have to move from Deck 12 through every critical node. If the Dosi pushed again, they’d strike systems control next: Engineering, the cores, transporters, and life support. Anything that lets them choke the ship.
He had maybe two fire teams to spare. Enough to plug holes, not enough to make mistakes.
Sam strapped the combat tricorder onto his forearm. Blond arm hair flattened under the band, catching the light like a dusting of gold over muscle. Beneath the skin, the brachioradialis flexed, and the edge of his tattoos shifted with the motion. He tapped the control plate, and the deck schematic blinked to life across his wrist display.
- Deck 05: current AO. Soft targets. Hold it.
- Deck 07: Security Hub. Armory and Brig. Two Marines redeployed to lock it down.
- Deck 10–11: Engineering. Full team reinforcing the Chief’s corridor.
- Deck 12: Environmental and GATOR. Marked red. Fallback line two.
- Deck 13: Secondary Bridge. Standby squad if Greaves called for them.
He zoomed out. The Colonel fought topside on Deck 01. Woolheater could help reinforce Security at key nodes, plug the holes, and help Security keep internal control while the Colonel handled the bridge.
Greaves/Nis/Peri: Response?
Greaves/Nis/Peri: Response?
Woolheater explained the defense of sickbay to each Marine two-member fire team. The outside corridors, “the stitch line” would be where they made their defense.
Greaves/Nis/Peri: Response?
(OOC Thomas: IDK if Greaves has already left this scene at this point – I assume yes – if so, ignore the Greaves tags. If Greaves is still in COMMs and/or giving orders? IDK. )
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Scout Sniper / Infantry Officer
MARDET, Starfleet Marine Corps
USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850