Medical Emergency

Posted on Wed May 19th, 2021 @ 5:13pm by Lieutenant JG Varik & Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii

2,563 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Lonesome Road
Location: Sickbay, USS Ontario

It had been a relatively quiet shift in sickbay. But then, it often was. There seemed to be little that inhabited the space between the small day-to-day items, a minor injury here, a headache there and a full-blown out-and-out emergency. But that was fine. Doctor Varik had treated an engineer for a scrape caused by carelessness in a Jefferies tube. She had administered a shot for a migraine. The ensign could of course avoid the migraines with the dietary choices as Varik had reminded her but apparently cheese was too important to her life to forego. That was her choice of course. Varik found what the humans would call Veganism worked well for her and it wasn't necessarily out of philiosophy, simply that it appeared to fit well with what her body seemed to want.

As most doctors did Varik filled the space between routine items with reading and research. Doctors of course had to be up with the latest on a wide variety of different ailments, diseases, phenomena, research, there was so much to know and Varik wanted to know it all, or at least as much as possible. Vulcans of course supressed emotion so one couldn't call them fears, but Varik had concerns that she should be as prepared as possible to meet any challenge the Beta quadrant might throw up. As such she sat in the CMO's office, reading a research paper from the computer terminal on the desk. It wasn't her office of course but as the the physician running this shift she had permission to use it.

A chirp came over the comm, 'Manganiello to Sickbay, prepare for emergency beam-in, Intel Officer with burn and impact wounds from an exploded console.'

"Understood Manganiello." Varik stood from the desk and moved out into the main area of sickbay just beyond the office door to observe the beam in.

Manganiello and his fellow Intel Officer, Aurik, were beamed in. Manganiello was stooped over, supporting the Ktarian. The man was clearly going in to shock, burns covering the hands and up the wrists, and his torso pockmarked with hot debris injuries.

'He needs a bio-bed!' called Manganiello as he noticed the Vulcan on duty.

"This one," Varik instructed and helped Manganiello move the patient on to a nearby biobed, showing little apparent effort in doing so thanks to her Vulcan strength. As the arch closed over Aurik's body Varik instrcted a nurse to bring her a hypospray. "You are in sickbay Ensign, we will take care of you," she told the patient, indifferent to whether he could hear her or not. Her attention moved from his face to check the view screens at the head of the bed.

"BP has dropped, he's going into shock," she observed. There was firmness in her voice but no drama, to be expected from a Vulcan doctor. "One of these wounds must have hit something important." The hypospray was handed to her and she administered something to the patient's neck. "Running a triage scan...". While the bio bed did it work she had a few moments to look up and ask Manganiello "are you injured, Ensign?"

He shook his head in response, 'no, Doctor - I was down in the well in the Intel Center, away from any of the consoles. This shouldn't have happened,' he said bitterly, 'the ship's just gone through a refit!'

"Lamentation will help no one, Ensign." Varik pointed out rather bluntly. "But I am glad you are not injured." She could have used the I word (illogical) but she had observed that often didn't go down well and her task was to help people feel better, not to make them feel worse. Still she was a slave to unemotionality. It was a balance. She turned her attention back to the bio bed which finished it's scan after a moment.

"There." She pointed out on the scan. "A fragment has perforated his stomach and caused internal bleeding." Varik retracted the arch for better access and asked the nurse for a mask, a debridement tool and for the patient's uniform to be cut away. After receiving the tool and a surgical mask she quickly donned the latter while the nurse skillfully removed the patient's uniform top and Varik set to work with the tool, moving in close to get a good view. She worked with a device that projected a miniature tractor beam to remove debris and contaminents from a wound and soon the large fragment of console along with some smaller ones were back on the outside where they belonged.

"Vascular regenerator."

'Aye, Doctor,' replied Manganiello, glad for something useful to do to occupy his mind. He grabbed a tray of medical equipment, and wheeled it alongside the Medical Officer. The Intelligence Officer, remembering his Academy Medical training and refresher courses over the last few years, and selected the regenerator, handing it to Varik.

'Vascular regenerator, Doctor.'

Varik didn't really have time to object, her patient was in trouble, and as long as this intel officer didn't make mistakes, that freed up her nurse for other duties. She took the offered vascular regenerator and went to work.

"Find his blood type and acquire some spare blood, real, synthetic, or plasma in that order of preference," she instructed the nurse and then fell silent as she attempted to repair the stomach wound. The bio readouts started beeping at her and she quickly checked them and continued her work. After a short time, a minute perhaps, she handed the device back to Manganiello without looking away from her work and requested a dermal regenerator instead.

He took a moment to glance at the tray, sure that a nurse would know exactly where the dermal regenerator would be situated. With a sigh he handed it over to the Doctor, the tension in his chest unbearable. Manganiello knew that he would lose comrades on tours, but like this? This was bad farce.

'Dermal regenerator,' Manganiello said, a slight tremor in his voice the only indication of his inner turmoil

This wasn't lost on Varik. She might suppress her own emotion, but that didn't make her inexperienced in dealing with those close to a patient. She took the dermal regenerator and closed the wound, confident the internal bleeding was taken care of. From there her attention moved to the monitors. She waited, and after a few seconds the intermittent beeping stopped.

"His blood pressure has stabilized" Varik informed Manganiello, turning to face him. "It should rise again once we have been able to replenish some of his blood. There is still a lot of work to do... ah." The nurse returned, passing Varik a bag of blood and some equipment for its administration and she set to work again, passing the dermal regenerator back to him as she did.

"You have experience with medical instruments," Varik observed as she started to rig up the blood pack.

'Just a little,' replied Magnaniello, 'I did a medical minor at the Academy, but ended up in Intelligence after graduation. I keep my toes dipped in the water so I can do first aid in a pinch for my department,' Manganiello glanced over at the Vulcan doctor, 'what's your speciality?' He resisted looking over at his comrade on the table, lest he see any surgery that would void his stomach.

This explained to the Vulcan Mangianello's cry of 'he needs a bio bed' upon arriving in sickbay. At least he wasn't a layman in making that request.

"Xenobiology." If Mangianello was squeamish attaching blood for Aurik might not be helping. Varik talked as she worked, taking a brief pause when she actually attached the blood. While manually inserted needles weren't the norm anymore, for such a large amount of liquid an air jet like a hypospray wouldn't be sufficient. Fortunately there were scanning cuffs that found veins and inserted needles. Varik attached the cuff as she continued her explanation. "All Starfleet Doctors are of course required to have a good knowledge of Federation species. Mine extends outside the Federation to just about every known species in the quadrant. The more biological systems one understands the more likely one can treat new and unfamiliar species in the Beta quadrant. That is the theory at least."

The blood was attached and Varik watched the BP readings for a moment. "And yours? What does it take to be an intelligence officer?"

'Data analysis and interpretation skills, mostly,' replied Manganiello, glad to have something to talk about now that it seemed his friend was over the worst. 'Most of us have a particular speciality - mine happens to be Romulan political analysis. As you'd expect given where we are.' He smiled, 'not quite as all encompassing as your own knowledge.'

Aurik's blood pressure started to rise very slowly. Content to monitor that for the moment while the blood did its job Varik again asked for the debridement tool and went to work cleaning out all of the other, less serious wounds that pockmarked the patient's chest.

"Romulan political analysis sounds like an extremely complicated subject," she observed as she worked. As she treated Aurik with her hands she could also treat Mangianello by keeping him talking and distracted from dwelling on what had just happened.

'Well it can be,' relied Manganiello with a smile, 'that's when we get any new updates at all. It's so chaotic there at the moment. And not to divulge anything sensitive, but it's difficult to get a handle on what's going on.'

"And do you enjoy it?" Varik asked as she removed another small piece of console from somewhere it shouldn't have been. This was of course less important to vulcans but Varik was aware of the importance of work fulfillment on an emotional level for many non Vulcan species.

'Yes, Doctor, very much so,' replied Manganiello with enthusiasm. 'I doubt very many people work in a field where they know writing a report can actually make a difference. Most others seem to have to put up with a lot of admin nonsense.' He paused, then smiled, 'and there's the occasional exciting trip off-ship too, if you know what I mean.'

"Indeed," Varik replied, "Away missions can be very stimulating, not that my previous captain let me go on very many."

'He didn't?' Manganiello asked, a little shocked. 'I thought most ships would have a rotation of Officers for Away Missions. It wasn't a Medical Ship, now, was it? I could understand then.'

"No, a scientific research vessel." Varik replied, still focussed on her work with the debridement tool. "USS Hutton. Nebula class, with one of the large scanning arrays," she added for context. "The captain said my observations on the subject of my deployment on away missions were illogical, however the statistics tell a different story."

Varik fell silent for a moment as she continued to work.

"Still, I accept this is probably to be expected when your Captain is also your mother."

'You served with your mother!?' exclaimed Manganiello, glancing at the Vulcan doctor. 'That's such an ... unusual arrangement, if you don't mind me saying. I've heard of spouses serving with one another - hell we all have - but not a familial pairing.' He looked down at the medical instruments on the tray in front of him, worried he may have said too much even for a Vulcan, 'how did that work exactly? Aren't there rules against it?' Questions buzzed around his head as he thought through the implications of such a posting.

"Not to my knowledge," Varik replied as she moved to the last wound, seemingly unperturbed by his comments. " I was born and raised by my mother on a Starship so I didn't think anything of it. I admit that I questioned when I was first assigned to her ship whether it was by coincidence or not. I think perhaps certain Vulcans in the higher ranks thought I was a little unstable and needed watching."

'Uhm, unstable?' Manganiello looked at her without moving his head.

"Yes. Refraining to point out the illogical nature of other species... openly showing compassion and understanding..." I was believed to be overly emotional," Varik explained flatly. Anyone who could see her apparent lack of emotion might find what she said surprising.

'Showing compassion and understanding is ... unstable for a Vulcan?' Manganiello resisted the impulse to scratch his head. 'Wouldn't IDIC encompass attempting to understand others?'

Wound cleaning done Varik asked for the vascular regenerator again.

"Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. In theory, yes," she said. "It has been my observation that how any principal is put into practice is as individual as each person attempting to do so. There will always be affecting factors coming from the personality of the individual. Even logic is subjective and not an absolute. Vulcans can be severe when it comes to the subject of emotion. I showed less aptitude for emotional control as a child and a young woman than many of my peers. In a Vulcan that is often regarded as a flaw, at least in my experience. Even speaking about it openly is frowned upon by many."

Having handed her the vascular generator once more, Magnaniello nodded, 'I can understand that - cultures aren't monolithic after all. And I appreciated the lesson you've given me today. I suppose most of us outsiders don't see the nuances within Vulcan culture still, even after all these years. I hope you don't mind me asking, but do they consider you to have, uh, 'improved' your emotional control?'

"Yes." Varik started repairing the affected tissues under Aurik's skin, starting with the most severe. Conversation was a good tool to keep the friends and colleagues of the injured calm and free from worry , in this case Varik wondered if she may have accidentally delved too far into her own 'Dirty Laundry' from a desire not to appear too closed off.

'Well that's good,' Manganiello carried on, oblivious to the Vulcan's internal conflict. 'I suppose it's quite like the journey to attain a Zen state in Japanese Buddhism - it's always a journey, never a destination, and you inch towards perfect control.' He managed a glance in his comrade's direction, 'how's he looking Doc?'

Varik looked at the monitors for a few moments.

"I have healed the main wound and now he is receiving blood his BP is rising. He is no longer in danger."

Manganiello breathed a sigh of relief, and hung his head a moment. 'Thank you, Doc. I'm sure he'll be grateful when he comes round.' Spying the nurses hovering around them, he smiled, 'I should get out of your way really - let you deal with his aftercare.'

Varik straightened up from her position bent over the patient for a moment and turned to face Manganiello.

"I will call you when he is awake," she assured him.

'Thank you Doctor ' replied Manganiello gratefully. 'I'm sure he'll get you a pint of your favourite beverage in the ship's lounge.' The Intelligence Officer made for the door. 'If you need anything further from us, shout.'

"Your offer is reciprocated, Ensign" Varik replied as she went back to her Vascular regenerator.

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