JP LtCmdr's T'Lea and Indobri - Kidnapped! Part 5
Karise Indobri
((Orstand 3 – Kensale Shuttle))
While the Doctor admirably tried to help Marot, T’Lea searched the items on the floor for anything that could assist. Most of the overhead compartments were empty, and the aft compartment where there may have been more supplies was locked tight due to the fire hazard, which she suddenly recalled hearing about. The one emergency cubby that she did find was sorely lacking. Apparently the shuttle had not been restocked.
She grabbed the box with the red-cross on it and gave it to the Doctor as she knelt down.
T’Lea: That’s all I could find. How is he?
Indobri: :: she shook her head in resignation :: Not good. There’s a lot of damage and blood loss.
Marot winced. His mouth was full of blood, and his eyes bulged in pain as he came around. The scream he let out was at half-volume due to his mangled condition and limited lung capacity. He wheezed.
Indobri: Easy. Take it easy.
Marot: Can’t… breathe…
Indobri: You’re very injured. You weren’t strapped in during the crash.
Marot: Can’t feel my… ::wheeze:: Can’t move…
Karise dug around in the medkit and produced a tricorder. It wasn’t as sophisticated as the Starfleet ones she was used to, but it would do the job. She activated the scanner and ran it over the man, confirming her diagnosis.
A distorted alarm sounded from the ops console in the cockpit. T’Lea lifted her head and bee-lined for the alert.
Marot: Sweet smell… ::coughing fit:: Sweet means co… ::cough:: Co… ::cough:: Burning. Fumes.
He started to seize.
Indobri: Damn. He’s seizing. :: turning to T’Lea :: What’s he talking about with the fumes?
T’Lea was under the console’s cracked display, looking up and trying to orient herself with the upside down interface, and damaged controls. She swore again when she realized what Marot was trying to say and what the messed up alert meant.
T’Lea: It’s cozien fluid. The sweet smell. We’ve got a fire in the feed line.
Karise didn’t respond. She had already set to work trying to stop the seizures, though she wasn’t feeling optimistic. And this time, she could honestly say it wasn’t from a lack of effort. She was giving this man every bit of her skill and talent. But without the proper facilities or equipment, there just wasn’t anything she could do, but make him more comfortable. She reached into the kit and produced a hypo. Finding the right combination of medications, she injected him with it hoping to at least ease his suffering.
T’Lea didn’t wait for a response from the Doctor, who had her hands full with her own problem. Although the Romu-vulc wanted nothing more than to beat answers out of Marot, she knew it wouldn’t help. Helping right now was cutting off the feed line so that the otherwise harmless fluid didn’t burn itself into a suffocating gas.
The Vulcan hybrid hurried into action, following the injection line away from Marot and Indobri until she was at the back of the shuttle. There she began feeling for heat underneath the smooth plates covering the access panels. Once she found the source, T’Lea ripped off the outer-case, cut the valve off, and then proceeded to beat-out the small flames with shredded recliner coverings, which she hoped was fire retardant. It was.
The seizures had stopped and the man seemed to be in less pain, but his breathing was becoming more labored. Kari knew it was from the blood filling his lungs. She was losing this patient and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Indobri: I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I can do. Tell me why? Why did you do this?
Marot’s eyes fluttered open again. He choked on his blood, splattering Indobri as he tried to speak his last words.
Marot: D- Al. Dal.
It was a Cardassian rank. The alarm from the ops console stopped, indicating that the threat was over.
Karise felt those old feelings stirring within her again. She despised them for what they had done to her people. If he was in league with one of them….
Indobri oO No! I will not allow those feelings to dictate my professionalism again. Once was one time too many. Oo
Indobri: What? Dal? A Cardassian? Dal who?
Marot: Sel-ta. Selta. ::wheeze:: Was. Her ship.
He gasped for breath as T’Lea knelt back into his view. She looked at the fresh blood speckled on Indobri’s face and neck. It was actually kind of pretty, like red Trill spots.
T’Lea: He said something. What did he say?
Indobri: Dal Selta. Does that mean anything to you?
It meant everything to T’Lea. Intensity rose as she turned her attention to Marot and shook him.
T’Lea: That was the Dal’s ship? Where did she go? Where is she?
Karise didn’t need her telepathy to know that name had raised some strong feelings from T’Lea. About as intense as her own feelings about Cardassians. But the man was dying and he deserved compassion right now, not their venom.
Indobri: T’Lea. Take it easy.
Marot: Was hired. To take you. ::he swallowed a wet slurp of his own blood:: To her.
The Romulan hybrid’s eyes narrowed something fierce. She grabbed the man’s torn shirt and pulled him up.
T’Lea: She hired you to kidnap me? It was a set-up?
Marot nodded.
Marot: Dis. Tress. ::pained snarl:: Call sent.
Indobri: You got a distress call out?
If that was the case, then maybe rescue would be coming soon.
Marot nodded confirming the good news, but it was about to turn bad.
Marot: Dal. Comes to you. Now.
T’Lea froze, and then let Marot slip to the floor. She put a fist against her lips in hard thought. He got a distress call out, but it went to Dal Selta. Great. She didn’t know whether that was good news or bad news right now, and she didn’t have a moment to think about it either.
Marot suddenly snorted on his own blood and gave a long, final, wet, slurping choke. Then silence.
Indobri: :: checking the scanner :: He’s dead.
There was no reaction from T’Lea. She simply looked Indobri over as if deciding something. As much as T’Lea wanted to let the Dal to find her because it would be the perfect opportunity to slaughter the woman like a sick pig, she knew it was not the best scenario for Indobri’s survival.
Damn it! Sometimes she really hated doing the right frelling thing.
T’Lea: We need to assess the shuttle. That means integrity, life support, finding a way to get rescued by the right people, and figuring out where the hell we are, and if it’s survivable.
Indobri: Right. I survived an occupation by the Cardassians once, I am not eager to be at another one’s mercy. But we’re not going to get much done with your bad shoulder and my ankle. Let me take a look at it.
T’Lea paused her ascent to stand and glanced at her misaligned shoulder. She gave the Doctor a nod of consent and sat back down.
T’Lea: Of course.
Karise scanned the shoulder and realized it was dislocated. It was going to need to be set. She reached up and took hold of T’Lea’s arm in one hand and pressed against her shoulder with the other one. She knew this was going to hurt. A lot. And often, the foreknowledge of pain made a person flinch, which was not something Karise needed.
T’Lea tamped down any pain as the Doctor positioned herself and T’Lea’s arm to be set.
Indobri: The good news is, it’s only dislocated.
Even as T’Lea began to speak, Karise pushed, resetting the arm back in the socket.
Pop
T’Lea: Will you need me to assist with your ank-AH!
Ankle. She was going to say ankle, but the surprise of the joint popping back into place caught her off guard.
T’Lea: Sadistic psycho… What happened to a little warning?
She clutched her arm and rubbed her shoulder. She couldn’t be mad though. On the one hand it hurt; on the other hand it did feel better.
Karise smiled a wry smile. Served her right. Somehow, T’Lea had done something that had caused a Cardassian to hire a kidnapper. That was something to be explored later. Now, survival.
Indobri: Better?
T’Lea: Jerk.
The snark was accompanied by a hint of insincerity. She was grateful, and under different circumstances would have found the sneak attack pretty damn funny – maybe she did anyway.
Karise smiled and nodded. She pulled an analgesic from the medkit and inserted it into the hypo.
Indobri: Here, it’s still going to be sensitive for a few days. This should help with the pain.
T’Lea dipped her head in an unspoken “thank you”, and decided against expressing a pessimistic thought about rescue.
Karise placed the hypo against T’Lea’s neck and depressed the actuator dispensing the proper dosage.
T’Lea: What about you?
Kari ran the scanner over her ankle and confirmed her suspicions.
Indobri: It’s broken in several places. I’m not going far like this.
T’Lea: We’re not going far period, if Maggot got his signal out. At least not of our own free will.
Indobri: Relax, T’Lea. He wasn’t the only one who got a distress call out. Of course, mine is probably going to be a little harder to track down.
She sat back against the bulkhead, trying to make herself comfortable. The ankle was swelling, but her boot was acting as a wrap. She’d need to take it off to set it, but if she did that, she would never get it back on. There were some bandages in the kit, so they would have to do. Something to use as splints would be good also.
T’Lea: Then they know we’re missing?
Indobri: I need your help with this. Can you help me get this boot off? And I am going to need to set the ankle and wrap it.
T’Lea: Oh, good. It’s my turn to torture you.
A bit of humor, that didn’t look like it was well received right off the bat given the Rodulan’s response.
Karise grimaced. If T’Lea had thought getting a dislocated shoulder set hurt, she had no idea what Karise was proposing to do to herself. A local anesthetic would be ideal, but there were none in the kit.
Indobri: You have no idea. But we have no idea how long it will be before help arrives, and it needs to be done before it starts healing.
Getting serious, the Vulcan side reacted to the Doctor’s needs. She stripped the slender arm rests off the broken recliner, cut the harness straps for lashing, and laid out the medial wrap that would be used for compression bandages.
T’Lea: Ready?
As T’Lea began to assist her, Karise explained what she had meant about her sending her own distress call.
Indobri: He made me toss the comm badges, but I activated one first. Enough of the conversation was transmitted that if someone picked it up, it should activate a response team. Of course, they are going to have to trace us from the docking port.
T’Lea: They’ll find the badges easy enough…
The shuttle would be harder. She let that thought go unspoken.
After peeling off Karise’s boot, and removing the sock, they both saw the discoloration around her ankle. T’Lea lifted an uncertain eyebrow at the woman.
T’Lea: Tell me what you need me to do.
Indobri: Alright. First you need to...
Karise guided the Vulcan hybrid through the steps to help set her ankle. It was excruciating, and by the time it was done, Karise was close to passing out from the pain.
((TBC in Part 6))
Lt Commander Karise Indobri, MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Juneau NX-99801
A239412S10
&
Lieutenant Commander T’Lea
Historian/Archaeology Specialist
USS Juneau
Author ID I238301T10