Unity – Escaping Death
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
Martina hadn't moved in 16 hours, she sat by the bio-bed keeping an eye on her superior officer. He'd taken an unneccisary risk to save the engineering crew along with the rest of the crew from a potential desaster and without hesitation. She realized that no one had come to check on him in all the chaos of the last twenty four hours. ~He risked his life for all of us and no one has come to see him why?~
Chelsea had finished her 4hr operation on Dunham in the early hours of the morning and after a 16hr shift had collapsed into a fitful sleep on a day bed in one of the cubicles. Ryan was already sleeping over his desk where he too had fallen with exhaustion and all the medics who would have been due to take over the next shifts had already been called up and used up, each on their last legs and sent to rest in turn.
Ed was the toughest and was still going at 6am when Ryan awoke and sent him to get some sleep but by 7am he'd had to wake Chelsea as there were too many patients still in need and not enough staff left standing to cover it all.
Chelsea stretched to find she'd given herself a crick in her neck and was tugging ruefully at it as she began the rounds, starting at the opposite end of Sickbay to the route Ryan was taking, she worked through the padds and updates and picked out the progress reports.
One stood out and her eyes widened. ~Why wasn't this guy followed up for the Prophets' sake??~ she was horrified and hurried to the cubicle where Jarred was lying.
Opening the door and walking in, Chelsea saw a young woman sitting at the bedside looking pale, worried and exhausted. ~How's he doing?~ she asked, taking up the padd on the control panel and pressing gently on the lcars panel to bring up readings.
It was more of a rhetorical question in a way because the life-support and med-arch were doing their work, much to the ACMO's relief. ~What would we do without automated monitoring and administration of routine medication?~ she thought to herself.
Marti stood up to stretch "Its ironic doc, here sits one of starfleets most decorated officers, hes risked his life more times than any of us know about, and the only person of any kind to see him is one of the nurses, what the hell does he have to do to get the recognition he deserves?" marti said as she smashed her fist into the nearby bulkhead.
"What sort of 'recognition' were you hoping for miss... um... I don't think we've been introduced." Chelsea replied with a frown. "If you're looking for him to get medals that will come later I imagine but it's not really important now. Here in Sickbay we just do repairs and recovery. I can't tell you how many brave men and women; sung or unsung heroes in their own proportions and rights, are all out there needing the help of my staff. We can't do more than 200% of our best so someone else will have to do the rest." Noting the damage Marti had done to her own wrist, Chelsea marked that down for attention later but felt this was not the moment.
She went on with her adjustments to Jarred's medication and the med-arch's ministration program. "I appreciate that you seem to have done most of the necessary caring here and I regret that we didn't help you out with that as much as we clearly should have."
"Please believe me when I assure you that personally, as the man I love most in the world is also severely burned and broken today as a result of an incredibly heroic and self-sacrificing act of bravery, I truly *can* sympathise with your pain witnessing the extent of his injuries and your frustration at the lack of appropriate response amongst all this chaos." She looked Marti in the eyes, clearly telling the truth about the person she loved, as it was obvious in her own eyes too.
"Its not just that Doc, the lieutenant is the first officer to not treat me like some errand girl, then when I learned about his brother, thats when things made some sense, then I see other officers running around freaking out about everything, there are so few real heros out there right now."
"To be completely honest. If I wasn't too busy to be able to indulge myself by being out of action, I almost envy you punching the lights out of that bulkhead. I've had a gutfull of the whiney and the ungrateful today and especially those with minor scratches who think they're so important without a thought for the 'real' heroes whose care they're delaying with their selfishness. I've come close today to forgetting I'm a doctor and just telling some people exactly what bs they're giving out. It's times like this, faced with the 'real' bravery that I feel humble." she admitted with too much honesty.
Shaking her hand in pain she looked at the doctor, "I was going through Mr. Wallaces records when I was first assigned here, I was dumb struck by the number of citations and awards hes won, if it wasn't for an inncident he'd be a captain by now, He has three Federation Silver stars, and three Purple hearts, plus at least two Presidential citations for bravery, I've never seen so many awards on one mans record, but its the inccident on Cardassia Prime that seems to be the biggest stain on his record."
"He sounds like someone very special." Chelsea said softly, fascinated by the amazing record of the young man on the med-bed in front of her. She put a regenerator over Marti's fist as she went on.
"I'm thinking perhaps he might be someone special to a very lucky girl somewhere" she hinted, without asking directly whether that someone was Marti, but letting her tell it in her own words.
Marti sat down looking up at the doctor, "Its sad really, he and Lieutenat Mckenzie were really close and now I think shes gone and written him off as dead or something." she paused "When you goto the Quantico barracks for field training your told from minute one until you leave your life is expendable if it saves other lives, I guess thats why he looks like someone whose been in a few too many bar fights with Klingons."
Chelsea couldn't help but smile at that description. "Well, if he likes, I could always do something about that" she murmoured. "How about you? Is your life expendable? You've been neglecting yourself sitting her in a devoted vigil at his beside. You're dehydrated and I imagine probably weak with hunger too."
The observations weren't only medical, Chelsea could see that Marti wasn't just here as a duty. "He could do worse than to notice that you're a very special person too"
"Someone has to be here for him, The cheif is too busy gloating over how he outsmarted Commader Dorian again, chances are hes sleeping it off in the encryptions room." Marti giggled.
"I wasn't thinking that the chief was likely to be his type!" Chelsea grinned back. "...but I have to say the chief and Dorian *do* seem to have a little *relationship* of their own going on, don't you think? They seem to take just that bit *too* much pleasure out of their rivalry!" She smirked, finishing with Marti's hand, good as new again.
"What about you?" she asked quietly.
"I haven't really had a serious relationship before, I had one boyfriend in high school but that didn't really last long after I joined starfleet, Lieutenant Wallace has been like a brother too me, even when I was still a rookie cadet he treated me like an equal, I just hopes he pulls through again." she paused there was some strange connection with the Doctor at that moment.
"He'll pull through" Chelsea promised her and meant it. "I'm personally going to make sure he does. He'll have to be pretty determined to die to get past me!" she smiled reassuringly.
"Well someone is going to have to keep him alive, he keeps getting shot up everytime he goes on a mission." Marti giggled to break the tension.
"Well then this is going to be the start of a long lasting relationship!" Chelsea grinned. "But perhaps we'd better tell him he doesn't need to keep getting himself shot to bits just for an excuse to come and see me, I'm happy to just make him appointments for check ups... that'd be MUCH less painful!" she joked.
"But seriously though, he's going to be here a while, do you want to get some rest? I'll sit with him if you like. I hope he didn't have anything urgent in his schedule" she changed back to a serious tone.
"He was supposed to meet with some Cardassian Liason in a couple of hours, that isn't going to happen today, I'll try to reschedule it." Marti replied.
"Good idea, and perhaps anything else until tomorrow at least?" Chelsea added. "I'm going to bring him round shortly. Do you want to stay and say hi before you rush off to reschedule him?"
"No, he might get the wrong idea or something." Marti turned to leave ~so would Claire if she knew~ she thought as she left.
"but....... " Chelsea was surprised at this reaction. She had been sure Marti would have wanted be here when Jarred woke.
"What wrong idea? The idea that you're a good friend and looked out for him? What's wrong with that?" she asked as Marti was heading for the door so suddenly.
Marti turned she was trying to hold back tears, "Its just better this way." before she could say another sentance she ran out of the sick bay letting out an audable sob.
Chelsea shook her head sadly. "Poor kid" she muttered aloud just as Jarred stirred of his own accord.
Jarred let out a groan, his body aching, as soon as his eyes opened he knew that he was in sick bay, again. "Did I miss something?"
"I should bloody say so!" Chelsea muttered. "The girl of a lifetime, if you ask me!"
Jarred just laid back down, wondering what she ment by that comment, he'd been through enough he'd try to figure it out tomorrow.
End
Lt(JG) Jarred Wallace
CIO DS5
Ens. Martina Perth
Intel Officer DS5
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | Escaping Death | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Tue Nov 10, 2009 @ 1:31am | |
| Location | sickbay | |
| Timeline | sd 16 0900 |
Chelsea had finished her 4hr operation on Dunham in the early hours of the morning and after a 16hr shift had collapsed into a fitful sleep on a day bed in one of the cubicles. Ryan was already sleeping over his desk where he too had fallen with exhaustion and all the medics who would have been due to take over the next shifts had already been called up and used up, each on their last legs and sent to rest in turn.
Ed was the toughest and was still going at 6am when Ryan awoke and sent him to get some sleep but by 7am he'd had to wake Chelsea as there were too many patients still in need and not enough staff left standing to cover it all.
Chelsea stretched to find she'd given herself a crick in her neck and was tugging ruefully at it as she began the rounds, starting at the opposite end of Sickbay to the route Ryan was taking, she worked through the padds and updates and picked out the progress reports.
One stood out and her eyes widened. ~Why wasn't this guy followed up for the Prophets' sake??~ she was horrified and hurried to the cubicle where Jarred was lying.
Opening the door and walking in, Chelsea saw a young woman sitting at the bedside looking pale, worried and exhausted. ~How's he doing?~ she asked, taking up the padd on the control panel and pressing gently on the lcars panel to bring up readings.
It was more of a rhetorical question in a way because the life-support and med-arch were doing their work, much to the ACMO's relief. ~What would we do without automated monitoring and administration of routine medication?~ she thought to herself.
Marti stood up to stretch "Its ironic doc, here sits one of starfleets most decorated officers, hes risked his life more times than any of us know about, and the only person of any kind to see him is one of the nurses, what the hell does he have to do to get the recognition he deserves?" marti said as she smashed her fist into the nearby bulkhead.
"What sort of 'recognition' were you hoping for miss... um... I don't think we've been introduced." Chelsea replied with a frown. "If you're looking for him to get medals that will come later I imagine but it's not really important now. Here in Sickbay we just do repairs and recovery. I can't tell you how many brave men and women; sung or unsung heroes in their own proportions and rights, are all out there needing the help of my staff. We can't do more than 200% of our best so someone else will have to do the rest." Noting the damage Marti had done to her own wrist, Chelsea marked that down for attention later but felt this was not the moment.
She went on with her adjustments to Jarred's medication and the med-arch's ministration program. "I appreciate that you seem to have done most of the necessary caring here and I regret that we didn't help you out with that as much as we clearly should have."
"Please believe me when I assure you that personally, as the man I love most in the world is also severely burned and broken today as a result of an incredibly heroic and self-sacrificing act of bravery, I truly *can* sympathise with your pain witnessing the extent of his injuries and your frustration at the lack of appropriate response amongst all this chaos." She looked Marti in the eyes, clearly telling the truth about the person she loved, as it was obvious in her own eyes too.
"Its not just that Doc, the lieutenant is the first officer to not treat me like some errand girl, then when I learned about his brother, thats when things made some sense, then I see other officers running around freaking out about everything, there are so few real heros out there right now."
"To be completely honest. If I wasn't too busy to be able to indulge myself by being out of action, I almost envy you punching the lights out of that bulkhead. I've had a gutfull of the whiney and the ungrateful today and especially those with minor scratches who think they're so important without a thought for the 'real' heroes whose care they're delaying with their selfishness. I've come close today to forgetting I'm a doctor and just telling some people exactly what bs they're giving out. It's times like this, faced with the 'real' bravery that I feel humble." she admitted with too much honesty.
Shaking her hand in pain she looked at the doctor, "I was going through Mr. Wallaces records when I was first assigned here, I was dumb struck by the number of citations and awards hes won, if it wasn't for an inncident he'd be a captain by now, He has three Federation Silver stars, and three Purple hearts, plus at least two Presidential citations for bravery, I've never seen so many awards on one mans record, but its the inccident on Cardassia Prime that seems to be the biggest stain on his record."
"He sounds like someone very special." Chelsea said softly, fascinated by the amazing record of the young man on the med-bed in front of her. She put a regenerator over Marti's fist as she went on.
"I'm thinking perhaps he might be someone special to a very lucky girl somewhere" she hinted, without asking directly whether that someone was Marti, but letting her tell it in her own words.
Marti sat down looking up at the doctor, "Its sad really, he and Lieutenat Mckenzie were really close and now I think shes gone and written him off as dead or something." she paused "When you goto the Quantico barracks for field training your told from minute one until you leave your life is expendable if it saves other lives, I guess thats why he looks like someone whose been in a few too many bar fights with Klingons."
Chelsea couldn't help but smile at that description. "Well, if he likes, I could always do something about that" she murmoured. "How about you? Is your life expendable? You've been neglecting yourself sitting her in a devoted vigil at his beside. You're dehydrated and I imagine probably weak with hunger too."
The observations weren't only medical, Chelsea could see that Marti wasn't just here as a duty. "He could do worse than to notice that you're a very special person too"
"Someone has to be here for him, The cheif is too busy gloating over how he outsmarted Commader Dorian again, chances are hes sleeping it off in the encryptions room." Marti giggled.
"I wasn't thinking that the chief was likely to be his type!" Chelsea grinned back. "...but I have to say the chief and Dorian *do* seem to have a little *relationship* of their own going on, don't you think? They seem to take just that bit *too* much pleasure out of their rivalry!" She smirked, finishing with Marti's hand, good as new again.
"What about you?" she asked quietly.
"I haven't really had a serious relationship before, I had one boyfriend in high school but that didn't really last long after I joined starfleet, Lieutenant Wallace has been like a brother too me, even when I was still a rookie cadet he treated me like an equal, I just hopes he pulls through again." she paused there was some strange connection with the Doctor at that moment.
"He'll pull through" Chelsea promised her and meant it. "I'm personally going to make sure he does. He'll have to be pretty determined to die to get past me!" she smiled reassuringly.
"Well someone is going to have to keep him alive, he keeps getting shot up everytime he goes on a mission." Marti giggled to break the tension.
"Well then this is going to be the start of a long lasting relationship!" Chelsea grinned. "But perhaps we'd better tell him he doesn't need to keep getting himself shot to bits just for an excuse to come and see me, I'm happy to just make him appointments for check ups... that'd be MUCH less painful!" she joked.
"But seriously though, he's going to be here a while, do you want to get some rest? I'll sit with him if you like. I hope he didn't have anything urgent in his schedule" she changed back to a serious tone.
"He was supposed to meet with some Cardassian Liason in a couple of hours, that isn't going to happen today, I'll try to reschedule it." Marti replied.
"Good idea, and perhaps anything else until tomorrow at least?" Chelsea added. "I'm going to bring him round shortly. Do you want to stay and say hi before you rush off to reschedule him?"
"No, he might get the wrong idea or something." Marti turned to leave ~so would Claire if she knew~ she thought as she left.
"but....... " Chelsea was surprised at this reaction. She had been sure Marti would have wanted be here when Jarred woke.
"What wrong idea? The idea that you're a good friend and looked out for him? What's wrong with that?" she asked as Marti was heading for the door so suddenly.
Marti turned she was trying to hold back tears, "Its just better this way." before she could say another sentance she ran out of the sick bay letting out an audable sob.
Chelsea shook her head sadly. "Poor kid" she muttered aloud just as Jarred stirred of his own accord.
Jarred let out a groan, his body aching, as soon as his eyes opened he knew that he was in sick bay, again. "Did I miss something?"
"I should bloody say so!" Chelsea muttered. "The girl of a lifetime, if you ask me!"
Jarred just laid back down, wondering what she ment by that comment, he'd been through enough he'd try to figure it out tomorrow.
End
Lt(JG) Jarred Wallace
CIO DS5
Ens. Martina Perth
Intel Officer DS5