Lt JG Sera "Hope Springs Eternal, and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong"
Hope Forster
((Romulan Embassy Starbase 118))
Sera had walked by what was left of this building countless number of times. Actually, she knew exactly how many times she had passed this place, but it was not the time to be so quintessentially…Vulcan. Her expression, such as it was, was grim. Ignoring the growing pit in her stomach, she surveyed the area taking in the details – considering the best course of action.
J’Lynn: ::under her breath, sarcastically:: Peace talks.
s’Rehu: Maybe they'll see that talking has gotten us nothing.
Sera: ::more to herself than anyone else:: what good is talking when listening is also not employed.
J’Lynn: ::stopping and looking around:: How could this have happened?
s’Rehu: We were so blinded by what we thought of as our differences we didn't even think that someone else would attack us both.
Sera said nothing as she considered that it was a rhetorical question. Otherwise, she had a rather complicated explanation on how an incendiary device was deployed and damage radii probabilities that she was certain they would find fascinating. Wait, was she utilizing…sarcasm?
Willow: So now what? How do we assist? I don’t feel comfortable abandoning our guests.
J’Lynn: Do what you want. I am going to search for survivors.
J'Lynn strode away from the group, picking a seemingly random place to start digging through the rubble.
s’Rehu: I don't even know where to start.
Sera: ::pulling out her tricorder and flipping it open:: It will serve no purpose to move debris if there is nothing of import under it to find…
Willow: That seems like reasonably active assistance. Yet enough to keep us out of direct harm.
s’Rehu: Should we help her?
Sera: ::seeing life signs near to where J’Lynn arbitrarily decided to start ‘digging’:: Yes. Her choice in location has proven fortuitous. There are subtle life signs under the location she has selected.
S'Rehu: How do we know where to look?
Sera said nothing to s’Rehu’s question, but she tilted her head towards in a very Vulcan non-verbal cue that she had heard him. She was quickly designing an algorithm to display the data being received from the tricorder into a three-dimensional holographic display. It would utilize far more of the battery than she was satisfied with, but it would give everyone a visual map on areas to focus on.
Willow: Responses
Havran watched as they used scanning devices to search for those who may be stuck in the rubble.
Sera placed the tricorder down and tapped on a few buttons and a small holographic display came up above the device showing the section of debris field that they had begun scouring. It was a crude visualization tool, but it showed where biologic signs were – it also did not show how vital such signs were, so time was of the essence. Just to ‘state’ the obvious.
Sera: Although a crude representation it does show promising areas that we should focus on. I do not see any major voids surrounding us that could pose problems if settling occurs. We are reasonably…I mean…::shrugging helplessly:: I cannot accurately calculate the danger given the multitude of variables.
Willow: ?
S'Rehu: Are there any survivors?
Sera: My apologies, s’Rehu. My tricorder is not powerful enough to scan to make such a determination. We do have lifesigns here, however. We should focus on what we can reasonably reach considering our lack of equipment.
Willow: ?
Without a word, he stepped over to her and knelt down and began helping to remove the rubble.
J'Lynn: ?
Sera too set to work, pulling away pieces of rubble. It required teamwork to ensure the safety of each other, as well as much of the debris was too heavy to move alone. This exercise had turned into some sort of macabre team building episode. She tried not to focus on anything beyond their immediate surroundings and to the task at hand. To think beyond to the whys of this unthinkable act was too much for her to consider.
Sera: According to the tricorder we are directly over a biosign. ::mouth pulling in what might be considered a small frown:: The vitals are dropping. We must make haste.
s’Rehu/Willow/J’Lynn: responses
Another piece was lifted, and an arm came into view. It was a drab grey, coated with dust from the falling building and the explosion. Sera resisted the urge to grab the hand and start pulling as so much more had to be removed before the person could be assessed to see if it was safe to move them. When enough rubble had been removed, Sera knelt down at his side and placed her fingers at his throat lateral to his esophagus. She was rewarded with a very fast, thready pulse but saw that he wasn’t breathing.
Sera: We need to alert medical.
Willow/ J’Lynn/s’Rehu: ?
Sera nodded at Willow’s initiative.
Sera: s’Rehu…J’Lynn, keep removing the rubble from his legs.
J’Lynn/s’Rehu: ?
She carefully tilted his head back to open his airway and grasping at his chin with her thumb and forefingers opened his jaw slightly. Pinching his nose, she quickly exhaled into his mouth, giving two quick succinct rescue breaths, and began the count.
oO One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand Oo
The rescue breaths and the count were repeated and finally the male’s chest rose on its own. Good. Pulse and independent respirations. Well…sort of. The man’s eyes did not open, and his breathing was shallow and too slow. This coupled with a thready, fast pulse?
J’Lynn/S’Rehu/Willow: ?
Sera: I am not medically trained beyond basic life support…I just know… ::voice trailing off::
Sera did know something that might be of benefit and her lips thinned into a fine line in determination. She had been taught how to do this, how to focus within for the purpose of stabilization. Of course, she had never actually done it…but…but he was dying…and she could help. Right?
J’Lynn/S’Rehu/Willow: ?
Sera: ::to herself, in a harsh whisper:: You can do this.
Her fingers traced a line along the cranial nerves along his cheek, far more inexpertly than she would have liked, but it was the connection that mattered, not the technique.
Sera silently mouthed the words that helped achieve the focus necessary to align one’s thoughts with another’s, but she had never entered an unconscious mind before and gasped at the speed which it occurred. She took a moment, shutting her own eyes and focusing on her breathing. Once settled, Sera set to work, using the disciplines taught to her as a child to visualize the repairs necessary to bring his body back into equilibrium…to give him a chance at survival. She needed this…one victory in a day full of defeats. Perhaps they all did.
J’Lynn/s’Rehu/Willow:?
It went easily at first. Visualizing improving vascular tone, shunting blood back to the core, initiating clotting cascades to tamponade off any critical bleeding, increasing epinephrine secretion and reuptake, driving increased contractility of the heart…it was like moving down a checklist. However, Sera suddenly felt a strange type of equalization. Her eyes fluttered opened. That was odd. He was breathing in time with her. Something did not feel right. The stabilizing healing had come so easily, and she had not considered why that was the case. She had been focused, too focused, on saving this one man…this stranger…In a knee jerk response, Sera forced their minds apart, pulling her fingers away from his face as if burned. The world spun, and Sera scrambled backwards as if getting some distance would dispel whatever was going on here.
J’Lynn/s’Rehu/Willow:?
tags/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Sera
Engineering Officer
SB 118 Ops
J239812S14