Racing the Hooded Specter
Posted on Fri Dec 12th, 2014 @ 10:05pm by Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell & Captain Jey Cleh & Commander Eliana Masters & Commander Andrew Matheson & Lieutenant Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro & Lieutenant Stacy Pierce & Petty Officer 1st Class Arianna D'Tal
Edited on on Thu Jan 1st, 2015 @ 11:53pm
Mission: Bloodpath
"I have a medical emergency out at the dock. O'Donnell's been shot with a projectile weapon by an unknown assailant. I need an emergency transport or a trauma team NOW; I don't dare move her any more than I already have. Inform the Commodore as well once help has been dispatched."
---------------------------
Arianna was the first to respond when the call came. =A= medical team is en route. =A= She said as she rushed out of the runabout she had chosen to sleep in, medical kit in hand. As she ran out, she saw Captain Cleh stumbling out of one of the tents.
"Where are you going?" Lizzy asked her.
"Rosaleen's been shot down by the docks, and no idea how bad it is." Arianna explained.
The two of them ran down to the docks, followed by a few others. As they got there, both of them saw enough to understand how bad it could potentially be.
"You're a doctor." Arianna said, holding the medical kit out for the Captain to take. "You're the best one qualified to handle this."
Lizzy looked in disbelief for a moment, then seemed stunned as she took a few steps back, not caring about those who saw. "I..."
"What are you doing!?" Arianna asked a bit louder than she'd intended. "She needs help!"
"I can't!" Lizzy yelled back, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as tears escaped from her eyes. "I just can't!"
Arianna wasted no time. "If you won't, then I will!" She dropped the kit, and quickly opened it, pulling out the tricorder. "Damn...
"Someone get a stretcher out here. We need to get her to the Bettina!"
Without a word, Lizzy turned, and walked off back towards the base. This whole situation was as bad as it could be in her mind, and being put in a situation where she should be using her medical skills just made everything hit home, causing her to break.
Arianna looked at Andrew, grabbing his hand, and placing it over the woman's wound. "Commander, I need you to keep pressure on this wound, while I assess the full extent of her injuries." Arianna explained. "Her life depends on it."
Andrew nodded. "From what I heard in her breathing, I think a lung got hit. She's still with us subconsciously." He went back to muttering under his breath, using a couple of Vulcan mantras to focus his shielding. The last thing he needed right now was to lose control and flood the area with his emotions.
"Lucky for her, the round went straight through, and just missed her heart." Arianna explained as she looked at the readings coming up on the scan. "Any further to the right, and she'd be dead..." Arianna trailed off for a moment as confusion crossed her features. ~What the hell?~
Andrew caught the look of confusion but decided that now was not the time to be causing a distraction. He kept pressure on Rosaleen's wounds and kept after her subconscious. Don't you even think of giving up, Rosaleen. If you can hear me, stay with my thoughts and hang on.
Adria had just left a briefing session with her pilots. The commotion caught her attention and things didn't look good. Various emotions threatened to surface but professional training allowed her to keep them stashed away. Immediately keeping things from getting further out of control. "Get the security perimeter in this area beefed up now. Maguire none of our pilots are out here without their combat protective gear." For the moment her job was to keep the area clear for medical personnel and those assigned a security detail.
As two people came down to the docks carrying a stretcher, Arianna shook her head as if to clear it. With Andrew still keeping pressure on Rosaleen's wounds, Arianna, and the two that brought the stretcher rolled her over enough to get a thick blanket under her, then rolled her onto her back again. After that, the two moved so that they could lift her to the stretcher.
"On the count of three." Arianna said as she looked at them. "One... two... three!" and they lifted her to the stretcher. Before they began moving, Arianna looked at Andrew. "You don't have to keep doing this if you don't want to. I think we can handle it from here, but it's up to you."
Andrew prepared to move out with the stretcher. "She took that bullet for me; I'll stay out of the way but I'd like to stay with her until she's stabilized, if that's okay with you." He kept poking out at Rosaleen's subconscious, trying to keep her breathing through sheer willpower.
Given the angle of the wound and the differences in their frames, Andrew had a disturbing suspicion that the assailant would have actually landed a heart shot on him if Rosaleen hadn't intervened. If there was any chance he could help her now, he owed her at least that much.
Arianna gave him a smile in complete understanding. "That's fine." She said, then looked to the others. "Let's move." She said, and they started to push the anti-grav stretcher back up toward the main base.
[USS Bettina, Medical Center]
"Guys! We've been trying to reach you, are your radios even on?"
"Sorry Commander, we had to turn them off. The number of calls we were getting was just too much for our staff to handle. I'm sorry."
"Well, we need to make room for one more. Commander O'Donnell has been shot by a projectile weapon and is on the way here for emergency treatment. Get prepared."
Masters had been on the opposite side of the base sharing MREs with some of the refugees when the blast had gone out. She was too far away from the docks to be of any immediate assistance, but when her repeated attempts to raise the medical team had failed, she made sure to get through to them face-to-face. Now, all there was left to do was hope that the first responders had gotten there in time.
A few minutes later there was a rush of excitement as four people rushed into the Bettina's medical center with Rosaleen on a stretcher. They moved the stretcher near one of the Bio-Beds, and Arianna looked at them.
"One... two... Three!" and they all moved to lift her from the stretcher to the bed. Other medics moved to work on Rosaleen, but Arianna waved them off. "All I need are a few nurses, and that's it. No one else is to interfere." She said. She didn't quite know what Rosaleen was, but she now knew that the woman wasn't Human. Granted her anatomy matched perfectly, but something in her DNA said otherwise, and she had a sneaking suspicion that no one else was supposed to know about it.
"Ma'am, I can't allow you to do that." One of the medics replied. "You're not even a part of the medical staff."
Arianna wheeled around on the man. "Listen to me very carefully." She said. "I have quite a bit of medical experience, including, but not limited to emergency medicine. I can do this, and I will!"
"Not gonna happen-" The man started to reply, but was cut off by another female voice coming from the door.
"Yes it is." As everyone turned, they saw Captain Cleh standing by the doorway, her mascara ruined from the crying she had been doing since the stressed moment on the docks. "Let Miss D'Tal handle this woman's care. That's an order."
There was only a moment of silence, before Arianna turned to two of the medics. "You, and you, get this bleeding under control, and prep her for emergency surgery." As they moved to follow Arianna's orders, she moved to where Jey stood, whispering low. "What are you doing?"
"Not what I should be doing, that's for sure." Lizzy replied. "But you know her better than I, and I have faith in your skills, so get it done, and do it right." Was all Lizzy said, before she turned, and walked back out.
Arianna shook her head with a sigh, then moved to where Andrew was standing. "Commander, you can stay for this, but I'm going to have to ask that you keep out of the way, unless I ask you to do something for me." She said as she looked at the highly detailed scan results from the bio-bed. "Her injuries are worse off than I thought, and there seem to be projectile fragments, so this will be an very risky surgery."
Andrew nodded. "I understand completely, ma'am. Thank you, and I won't take any more of your time." With that, he found a space of empty wall and got out of the way as requested. He could still get to the bio-bed in seconds if needed, but he didn't need to be all that close to Rosaleen to do what he came here for.
He kept focusing on what he could feel of Rosaleen's subconscious mind. He was not going to let her feel alone if he could help it. Stay with us, Rosaleen. You're safe and we're working on getting you stable. Stay with us...
As the medics prepped Rosaleen, Arianna did a quick clean up for her own prep. As she approached, they were just working on trying to stabilize her. "Anyone that is not Mr. Matheson, or is not helping me needs to leave." She said, and watched for a moment as people began to file out of the room. She looked at Rosaleen's unconscious form, and sighed. "Stick with us Rosaleen... I'm gonna fix you up just like new..."
Arianna picked up a laser scalpel, and went to work. In order to get to a point of fixing the woman up, she had to open her up enough to work within that area. She knew that with there being fragments, (one of which had actually lodged itself into the outer wall of her heart), the chance of Rosaleen coming out of this alive wasn't good, even for a highly skilled doctor, and she really wished her father was around right about now.
The slide of a curtain blocked off the area around the biobed from the rest of the area. A few of the crew walked just outside the room and waited anxiously, hoping for any sort of good news. The entire day had been just a little too much for all of them, especially for the figure sitting closest to the door out in the corridor.
"It isn't fair," Masters lamented, mostly to herself. "I just got to this station and just started to get to know these people and now. . . this isn't happening again!" She stood to her feet and glared through the window, boring holes through the glass. Ellie lashed out again, if for no other reason than to clash against the inevitability of how powerless they all were in the situation.
"No one is dying today. No one!"
The situation hit Adria hard however there was work to do. As they boarded the Bettina, she headed straight for the command center. Hooking her headset into the ship's communication system, she started working to contact the pilots they'd sent to update O'Shea. For the moment, Adria let her training and previous combat experience take over.
As Arianna began what was about to be the most complex, and scary procedure she had ever performed, the one thought that kept going through her mind over, and over again was ~Please don't die on me~
--------------------------------
'Stay with us...'
The lone voice echoed above the rest, but the ensuing cacophony that rushed in drowned out any further words that may have been spoken. It was so dark, and the pain...but even in this, there was a recognized familiarity. She started to try to reach out...
Intense pain suddenly flowed through her like fire, overwhelming every bit of her essence. The spark that illuminated her surroundings dimmed, and the air turned cold. She was so confused. She did not understand what was happening. Why was this happening to her? Why? She reached out with what was left of her inner strength, looking for somebody...anybody that could hear her. Anybody who could end this misery that was her existence.
"Do not fear, young one. Everything will be as it is supposed to be. You are ready for the next step in your journey. We are here to guide you. But you have to let go. You have to trust us."
She searched out with what was left of her ebbing strength, and found...warmth. Illumination. It was there, just down the path a short ways. All she need to do was take that first step. But...something was pulling at her, holding her back. She searched though the vortex that continued to consume her and found...
She knew she had to let go, but it was so difficult...more-so than she could have ever expected. The spark of her existence in this moment was kept illuminated by one presence. But singling it out was impossible. She needed to...yes, that was it. Concentrate. Slower...slower...that was the solution. The pain ebbed then slowly faded away along with all of the voices. All of the presences that moved around her. It was almost dark now. She could feel the warmth of the new light that beckoned her down the new path that had presented itself to her. She was almost ready to go. Just a bit slower. Just one more connection to break.
--------------------------------
As Andrew leaned against the wall, suddenly a voice appeared in his head. It said but one lone word;
'Farewell.'
The spark faded one last time, and then went dark.
--------------------------------
Andrew felt himself go numb as the possible ramifications of what he thought he just heard washed over him. I didn't hear that. Or if I did hear that, it wasn't her that said it. Stay on your feet, try not to look like all your blood just went into your toes, and hang on until the medic gets this all sorted out.
At the same time, Arianna was pulling the small fragment of bullet from the outer wall of Rosaleen's heart. At the moment the shard was removed, The woman's heart simply stopped.
"Shit! No no no! Don't you dare die on me!" Arianna said, then pointed to the other side of the room as alarms went off to indicate a cardiac arrest. "Get me the cardio-stimulators!"
One of the medics rushed to grab the item she pointed at, bringing them back to set them in key spots on Rosaleen's chest.
"Clear!" Arianna called, and as everyone let go, she pressed a button on the surgical arch's panel, causing Rosaleen's body to convulse multiple times.
"No change." the medic told her.
"Clear!" She called again, and everyone let go again as a higher voltage coursed through Rosaleen, causing her body to convulse again.
As soon as the convulsions stopped, the medic resumed what he was doing, but noticed no change. "Nothing, Ma'am."
"Dammit Rosaleen!" Arianna swore again. She couldn't believe this was happening. "Clear!" and they all let go before an even higher voltage was sent through Rosaleen's body, causing her to convulse again.
As the sensors continued to emit one long tone, Arianna finally took a step back, pulling her mask down. "I'm calling it..." She said quietly as she stood there seemingly stunned. "Computer, please log that at this stardate, Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell is deceased."
"Acknowledged." Was the simple reply.
A heavy silence fell over those in the room, before Arianna finally set down her medical tools on the table. "Please remove the remaining fragments, close her up, and put her body in stasis." She ordered quietly, as she faced the medic. "I think I'm going to go break down now." With that, she took off her gloves, disposing of them, and left the room.
Andrew took a moment to gather his thoughts. Making a concerted effort not to look at Rosaleen, because it would be another twenty years of nightmares if he saw her like that, he walked out of the room in Arianna's wake. He had several tasks to attend to now, not the least of which was writing a report for the senior staff about how he perceived he'd gotten her killed. But first, he got the immediate impression he was going to have to help people put themselves back together while making damn sure he didn't let himself fall apart.
As Arianna stepped out the door, she was greeted by the sight of several people awaiting the outcome of the emergency surgery that she was performing. It took all her willpower not to completely break right then, and there.
As they all looked expectantly at her, tears began to spill from her eyes, and she did all she could to keep at least a somewhat straight face. "I'm sorry..."
Masters slowly stepped forward and hugged Arianna. Life and death had been playing their constant tug of war for eons now, and at no other time had the desire to give into despair been stronger than at that very moment. No experience could provide the sort of perspective it took to undergo such loss and remain anchored to stoicism.
Pulling herself away, Eliana turned around and walked down the corridor. She said nothing.
Adria exited the Command center in time to see Arianna's face. Nothing more needed to be said. In time she'd check on her, but for now they all needed what privacy they could find in the middle of a war zone. This wouldn't be the first or last time Adria went through this in her line of work, but is never got any easier. She turned and headed towards the ship's boarding hatch.
Lizzy had also been standing there waiting. As she realized what had happened, all she could do was quietly turn around, and walk away, silent tears on her face as she went.
Arianna turned, and walked into a nearby room. She'd fully intended on removing the surgical clothes, but instead, just as the doors closed, she dropped to her knees, and broke into uncontrolled tears.
Having been in the middle of a project that required her constant attention, Stacy had not been able to break away immediately to see what exactly had transpired. She knew somebody had been injured, but with all of the noise in the hole they were working in she had not been able to hear either who it was or what exactly the injury had been. Upon completion of their task, she quickly made her way back to the central command area. As she approached the Bettina, she ran into Masters exiting the ship. She was about to ask what was going on, but upon seeing the expression on Eliana's face, panic began to set in.
"Commander. What is it? What's going on?" She asked, already knowing that whatever the answer was, it was something she did not want to hear.
Masters stopped dead in her tracks. The cooler air brought in by the passing of the storm and the circumstances conspired against her to provide as much of a sensory overload as was possible.
"It's Rosaleen," Eliana managed. "She's... dead."
It was as if somebody had punched her in the stomach. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She simply fell to her knees and stared at the ground. the tears began to pour out immediately. After a moment, she was able to look up at Eliana. "Wh...how? How!" Oh no, it just couldn't be true.
"We don't know who, but it was a projectile weapon," Masters replied simply. Her mind was elsewhere, but she dropped down to a knee and tried to console Stacy as best she could.
"We'll find these bastards."
The night returned to its stillness, unaware of the turmoil occurring under its watch.
"Commander..." The quiet voice came from Lizzy, who had also just exited the ship, and was now standing only a few feet behind Eliana. "I'm going to need your help keeping things together."
Masters recognized the voice and slowly got back on her feet.
"Yes captain, whatever you need."
As Masters stood up, Lizzy moved to place a hand on her shoulder, moving around to face the woman. She understood all too well the feeling of loss. "We all feel it, Commander." She told Eliana as she looked at her. "We all feel it, but we must keep doing our duty, so they don't get away with this."
"Yes, you're right," Masters replied flatly, choosing to remove as much of the emotion from her voice as she could. It was preferable to the alternative.
"The refugees are going to make it through the night. We can work through the night and into tomorrow to establish something more permanent for them," Eliana looked across the field where the remnants of several campfires smouldered. "We have to lead. They'll be looking to us for answers. Not just them," she gestured across the field, "but our own people too. We have to be there for them."
"Get our senior people together." Lizzy said, as she wiped at the tears that were still on her face. "I want to get everyone on the same page, and dig into this base a bit more solidly."
Adria left the ship shortly after Cleh walking right past the group that had assembled. Her main priority at the moment was to notify her pilots. Given the situation she didn't want the news coming from someone else.
Andrew came out of the ship after Adria. He was still wearing his bloodied uniform, and it was a fairly telling sign of his continued rattled state that he didn't notice any of the looks this attracted. He saw Eliana and the captain standing together and gritted his teeth. Better to get this over with now so I have a chance of sleeping tonight, he thought as he walked over to the pair.
"My apologies if I'm intruding, Captain, Commander." He took a steadying breath. "As the other person present at the... attack scene, I know I'll need to file a report on the matter. I intend to have it filed before I sleep tonight... if I sleep tonight... but I know there may be questions you have for me or duties you need me to perform before I get to that point."
Lizzy looked at Andrew as his voice caught her attention. "You're not intruding Mr. Matheson." Lizzy replied. She gave him a smile that probably seemed more reassuring than she really felt. "Could you do me a favor, and get Miss D'Tal? I want her in on the meeting taking place in a few minutes."
Andrew returned the smile, but it never got close to reaching his eyes. Those were still looking shocked and troubled. "Yes, ma'am." He turned and went back to the Bettina. Once inside, he asked the computer to locate Arianna and then pressed the call button at the door to the room she was in.
"I'll find Tempest," Masters added on, knowing that she couldn't have made it far.
Lizzy watched as Eliana walked away, wondering in the back of her mind whether she could've saved Rosaleen. She felt bad for Arianna; such a young girl, and yet Lizzy had been stupid enough to freak out, refusing to do anything... How was she going to dig her way out of this one?
--------------------------------
Captain Jey Cleh
Executive Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase 80
PO1 Arianna D'Tal
Executive Officer's Yeoman
Academy Cadet
Starbase 80
Commander Eliana Masters
Director of Flight Operations
Second Officer
Starbase 80
Lt Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro
220th CAG
Starbase 80
Lt. Commander Andrew Matheson
Chief Diplomatic Officer
Starbase 80
Lieutenant Stacy Pierce
Director-Starfleet Corps of Engineers Division 16F
Starbase 80
Rosaleen O'Donnell
Spirit in the Netherworld
