Tossed into Triage

Posted on Thu Mar 17th, 2022 @ 3:01pm by Lieutenant JG Briar Kendall & Captain Aviram Drell & Commander Sorek & Lieutenant JG Zerin Rolfe & Emergency Medical Hologram

Mission: Episode 06: "Far From Shore"
Location: Main Sickbay, USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 1 at 0627

ON: [[Main Sickbay, USS Vesta, MD01, 0627 hours]]

Zerin was finishing the last of his rounds on third shift, the silence and peace of the skeleton shift with dimmed lights always made him happy. However, it was coming to the end of his shift and he was ready to hit the rack for a few hours of sleep before getting on with the rest of his day. He moved to the console to begin inputting the last of his orders and chart updates.

Sorek was early as usual, though he did not announce his arrival, only just heading for his office to check for any logs or messages left while he was away. With that done, he made his rounds. This was more to make himself visible and available for anyone on the previous shift - a common complaint on some of his other postings was that some shifts felt that they did not take priority over others. This was an emotional response and illogical, but responding to it with indifference was unhelpful and inefficient. Sorek did not subscribe to the belief of ignoring the emotions of others - logical or not, it was as effective as ignoring the universe itself.

Briar had always been an early riser. Sleep was not something she had ever required in excessive amounts. While it had been a blessing at the Academy, giving her untold extra hours to study, now that she was on a ship, a new ship where she knew no one, it was more a curse. That was why she had headed to sickbay after rising early and completing her morning routines. Not that sickbay at that hour provided much in the way of entertainment, but at least it was familiar, the sterile scented rooms were comforting in a weird sort of way, and there was always busywork to be done to keep her occupied.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, the entire ship lurched hard to port. Lights flickered, utility trays went flying, and a loose stack of PADDs clattered to the deck. The very air seemed to crackle with energy. Alarms chirped on nearly every console. Tremors shook the deck plating. Then, it all pitched again, sending everything in the opposite direction. What followed was the terrible sound of rending metal echoing through the ship.

Sorek was not expecting to get thrown off his feet, and as such, could not brace for it. He was hurled over an unoccupied biobed into a cart with a crash. Instinct told him to stay down, but he got up anyways and went back down as the result of something not secured hitting him just over his left eye. He did not cry out in pain, but the temptation was assuredly there.

Briar was in the storage room when it happened. One moment everything was peaceful and quiet and she was counting crates of supplies and the next moment she was on the floor, surrounded by the contents of the crates and supplies she had been working with just moments ago. The quiet ship had been plunged into chaos. The red alert klaxons sounded, the noise ringing in her head, or maybe that was from the... the 'something' that left what she was sure was going to be a nice bruise on her temple. The red lights were flashing around her, the sensory combination of light and sound would quickly become too much for her to bear. Rising carefully to her feet, she dabbed her fingertips lightly at her temple and drew them away, grimacing at the blood, the sight of it making her feel a little woozy. Drawing in a deep breath to steady herself, Briar turned and made her way into main sickbay, assessing the chaos as she moved.

A moment later, the emergency medical hologram shimmered into existence near the center of the main ward. "Good heavens," he exclaimed, foregoing his usual greeting. It looked as if some sort of wind storm had swept through the entire section. Klaxons sounded. Everything was bathed in the flashing of red emergency lights. "What happened..."

The hologram was cut off by the sickbay doors opening. Two crewmembers hobbled in, a third barely hanging on over their shoulders. They were clearly looking for help. Right behind them, another injured crewman...and another. Meanwhile, the ship continued to shake and pitch violently beneath them, making it difficult for anyone to maintain their balance.

With considerable effort and restraint, Sorek fought to his feet once more. Order must be brought to chaos and aid must be delivered. He touched up to his face and came back with green blood trickling down. Sorek just grabbed the first thing he could to hold on the injury.

"EMH, I am not sure who activated you, but your presence will be useful. Please assist with new arrivals, they must get down or else they will be thrown violently." Sorek said.

"Everyone, please remain calm and attempt to stay down. Standing up is a hazard. If possible, move away from unsecured items." Sorek added, nearly losing his own balance again. "Remain calm and stay down."

Zerin held onto a bio bed that he had happened to slam into with the lurching. Whatever seemed to have caused the problem had resolved, or so he hoped as he got himself back on his feet. He had responded to many emergencies, but had been inside of few at the start. The console next to him flickered in and out of life, as did the bio bed two down that had been dislodged by flying projectiles. "Well then," he finally said, "I guess my shift isn't over."

Moving towards the main doors of sickbay, he weaved around equipment that was strewn across the floor. The lights flickered once or twice, which didn't make his confidence strong that they were out of whatever started this. With sharp orders, nurses started to move about, some cleaning the mess, the others moving with him. "Set up triage in reception. Green tags to the laboratories. Only yellow and red to the main floor. EMH, lead the triage area."

Briar entered just in time to see Zerin issuing the orders. The realisation that the EMH had been activated had surprised her. Had there not been enough doctors on duty to handle the damage? Perhaps it was an automated response given their situation. She stumbled forward and gripped a bio bed as the ship lurched again. "Did we hit something?"

Zerin shrugged. "Who knows. Whatever they did up on the bridge, it wasn't the right thing to do, that's for sure. Can you start prepping the main hospital area? I have a feeling red tags are going to start piling up soon in there. I'm moving the stable patients into the medical labs for the time being. We can sort them out later." No sooner did he finish talking did he have to grasp tightly as the ship lurched again. They were getting better, but still not easy to ride out. The icing on the cake was the lighting flickering with the lurch.

Grabbing hold again to keep her footing, Briar grimaced. "Aye Lieutenant," she added, working from surface to surface to keep herself steady as she moved through sickbay toward the main hospital area. Already she could see nurses moving in to start emergency preparations.

The crews were responding to the situation to the best of their ability. This was good - injuries would be coming in soon and a Sickbay that was itself incapacitated was of no help to the rest of the crew.

"We will need to set up a triage area quickly." Sorek asked as the ship rolled beneath his boots once more, "My office is reasonably secure, we can divert some there for the moment. Do we have sufficient space in the labs? And are there any that were conducting experiments? We may need those labs isolated for possible contamination."

"Nothing dangerous for us, only possible contamination to the experiments," Zerin quickly responded. "And I think given the circumstances," He grabbed a console to steady himself through another ship roll, "We can restart the experiments another day."

"That is accurate. As long as it is of no risk to patients, that is the priority." Sorek replied. He then tapped his commbadge.

=A= Sickbay to Bridge. Are you receiving? =A= Sorek said.

Almost as suddenly as the ship had started lurching and rolling, the movement calmed enough that they could move without holding tight to surfaces around them. Briar exhaled slowly, not even aware that she had been holding her breath. Moments later the doors to the main medical waiting area opened and the first of what she assumed was going to be a great many patients came in. She offered a reassuring smile as a nurse rushed forward and escorted the patient to be triaged.

Making her way back to Sorek and Zerin, Briar offered a weary glance. "We've got incoming," she said quietly. "I expect we're about to get very busy around here."

"Lets do this," Zerin replied with a soft grin, his mind already in overdrive preplanning for injuries.