First, Do No Harm

Posted on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 @ 8:58am by Ranger Blue & Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Jai & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason
Edited on on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 @ 9:59pm

1,960 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Haumea Colony - Medical
Timeline: Before 'Roll With It' - 1813 Hours

”One day you will get yourself into trouble from which you can not extract yourself,” Kars’h explained in his most logical tone.

Ranger smirked as he walked beside the aging Vulcan. The grey at his temples had started to show. Ranger liked to think he was responsible for most of them. “You old, logical mush. Does this short trip into Federation space worry you?”

“I am,” the Vulcan paused, seeking the correct term, “simple stating that the odds of your return with the cargo are roughly one million three thousand and forty to one against your return. Even worse against your survival. I am told this is an exchange between you and the Orion Syndicate. They do not like, as you Terrans say, loose ends. Or loose canons.”

Now the smirk widened into a grin. “I’ll be fine and back in less than a week.”

Ranger woke with a gasp… Looking around, his eyes narrowed on the obviously Starfleet medical center.

"Don't worry, we've got you," Gunnar assured, running beside the gurney as he helped guide it into the hospital.

"I thought you were out on a survey," a small voice asked, shortly before a young boy appeared. With his bald head, he might well have seemed Deltan. The cues were all there suggesting he was human, though the elaborate mandala tattoo that marked the crown on his head seemed an odd custom.

"Just what exactly were you looking for?" the tattooed youth inquired wistfully, as a medical tricorder came up while the boy walked alongside the gurney."Or, better question, what did you find?" Jai asked, as his gaze jumped from the tricorder, to the man on the gurney, and then up at Gunnar.

"I was - I told Bray I'd check the daucin nest," Gunnar replied. Keeping the overzealous and somewhat incautious director from doing it himself had been more than worth the trouble. "But then I saw the entry trail and found this gentleman in the wreckage of his ship."

“Who is we?” Ranger asked, hearing the slur of his words. ’Drugs,’ he thought, his head just as foggy. “Where am I?” He wondered, trying to prop himself up but immediately realizing that was a mistake.

"Which was in better shape?" Jai quipped quietly, in reference in Gunnar's remark as to how he'd found the patient on the gurney. Or where he'd found him.

Shifting his full attention to the patient, Jai answered, "This is the Haumea Colony Medical Center. My name is Jai. I'm a doctor with Starfleet Medical."

As the gurney and its entourage arrived in one of the hospital suites, the Only snagged a stool with one foot, dragging it over so that he could use it to boost himself up to better interact with the biobed that was frustratingly manufactured for adult-sized humanoids.

He didn't experience this kind of height-elitist discrimination in Binar or Ferengi hospitals. Granted, there were a host of other problems one encountered in a Binar or Ferengi hospital. "I believe you've already met Nurse Arnason," the boy commented, as he turned his attention back to Gunnar. "I see the field dressing. What have you given him for pain management so far?"

"Nothing," Gunnar replied, adding before anyone thought him cruel. "When I scanned him initially, he had a lot of pain killers in his system. He passed out shortly after I carried him out of the ship, so I figured best to let him detox on the way in."

Ranger used his right arm to push himself up. “No offense, but do you think I can get out of here?”

The boy raised an eyebrow when Gunnar dropped mention of pain killers having already been in the man's system. "I'd like a blood-gas analysis and toxicological scan," Jai remarked, with a slight bow of his head toward the nurse.

Turning back to the man of the gurney, the boy answered, "This is a hospital, not a prison. If you want to leave, that's your choice but I would recommend having that shoulder examined." Tucking his hands into the pockets of the lab coat that he wore, the Only explained, "There could be damage to the nerves, arteries, soft tissues... if scar tissue develops, you risk losing mobility, and possibly sensation in your arm."

Giving a shrug, the boy offered, "If you stay, I can repair the damage, treat your more minor complaints or injuries, and then you can be on your way again -- with two good arms, instead of one."

Ranger dropped back onto the biobed. “Alright… I’m sure your species all look like nine year olds, but I’ve got a couple of questions. One, clearly you’re a doctor, but how old are you? And two, what is the genetic purpose of looking like a child?” It must have been the pain killer talking.

The boy's head bobbed as he gave a somewhat weak laugh. "Your assumption is slightly off," he offered cryptically. "The members of my species have an arrested metabolic development that extends the cellular lifespan, because the cells don't divide as frequently, and as a result they appear more or the less the age that they were at time of infection."

That was skipping over the fact that the metabolic changes didn't take in adults the same way, but no need to go into the whole story. "My precise age is uncertain, owing to a lack of surviving records, but I'm somewhere between four hundred and four fifty," the boy supplied, answering the actual question posed to him.

Reaching down, the boy started to remove the make-shift field dressing securing the injured arm, revealing the laceration and indication of broken bone underneath. "So there is no genetic purpose... because I am a child. Or am still a child," Jai offered with a shrug, as he glanced down at the patient and then over at Gunnar. They'd begin with the arm. "I've just been a child for a very long time."

And obviously developed quite bit of maturity, Gunnar thought listening to how Jai handled the patient and explained his condition. But he had been running the blood-gas analysis and toxicological scan the doctor had ordered during the exchange and now handed a PaDD with the results to Jai. "Scan results, Doctor."

Accepting the padd, the boy reviewed the results. "Let's start with ten cc's terakine, and then prep two cc's anetrizine," Jai uttered, thinking aloud before passing the padd back to the nurse. After he had, the boy glanced down at the man on the bed and explained, "The terakine should relieve your discomfort. The anetrizine will numb the input from the nerves going into your shoulder while I repair the joint and ligaments."

Gunnar nodded, loading hypos with the dosages.

As Gunnar administered the first medication to the patient, the boy glanced over at the man and asked, "Have you ever done a nerve block before?"

"Of course, Doctor," the NP answered, almost surprised at the question. But then he supposed to someone as old as Jai any human without grey hair might be presumed to be too young to have experience at anything.

Pulling out his medical tricorder, Jai examined the shoulder more closely. Then, folding the device closed, pointed to a spot up on the collarbone. "Injection point here," the boy noted, before shifting over to another spot along the deltoid. "And here."

Gunnar applied the injections efficiently. Verbal response was unnecessary; at this point he was essentially a second set of hands for the surgeon.

Activating the sterilization field, the Only set to work. "Subdermal scalpel," the boy requested, holding out his hand as he waited for the device to smack into his palm. Bending over the man, the boy delicately started working on the rotator cuff. After a minute, he passed the scalpel back to Gunnar and asked, "Osteo-regenerator."

"Osteo-generator," Gunnar replied in automatic confirmation as he exchanged the instruments.

"Micro-suture," Working on repairing the ligament and muscle tissue, the boy paused for a moment. "Give me a bio-regenerative field on the brachialis," he uttered finally, pausing to allow time for Gunnar to work before he leaned back and started to work again.

"Subdermal scalpel," the boy requested, passing the tool back to Gunnar in exchange for the other. Gently, the boy went back over the repair work. Then, finally, leaned back from the table. "That looks good. Now, lets take a look at your lungs," Jai commented, passing the scalpel back to Gunnar, before he turned his attention up to the bio-analysis display overhead.

"Lungs seem clear," the boy noted approvingly before he raised his voice and said, "Computer, run an arterial scan." As a muted chirp supplied the acknowledgment, the boy shifted his attention back to Gunnar. "Go ahead and start taking the cast off the leg while the scan finishes. We'll work on that next."

Gunnar nodded and moved to the patient's lower leg. The break was clean - a simple impact fracture - and if it had been the only injury, he might have taken the time to knit the bones with the hand osteoregen in the emergency kit. Of course, that didn't mean that moving it wouldn't be uncomfortable. "The terakine should limit the pain, but there may be some discomfort," he warned the man as he began gently removing the temporary cast.

Ranger shrugged. “I think a little discomfort is acceptable considering you’re basically saving my life,” he replied, looking at both the doctor and nurse pointedly.

He wouldn't barge in; Luka was a physician first, but he did enter in when he thought everything was clear. He had, of course through the various scrambled teams heard that there was a crash landing, and with the security team's report... Luka had to see for himself what was going on. It was odd. It was off. And it posed an unknown, and on Haumea? He wasn't taking the chance.

The Captain gave nod to both Jai and Gunnar; he was not getting in their way. "How's the patient?"

Since a report on the patient's condition properly fell to the doctor, but Gunnar nodded back to the Captain, offering a brief smile that wouldn't have been there if there were any serious cause for concern. However the idea of leaving it to Jai was quickly revised as a page for him came over the intercom and responsibility for answering the Captain was transferred with a simple glance exchanged between the two before the doctor hurried off.

"He's doing considerably better than when I found him, sir," Gunnar reported, beginning to apply the osteoregen to the broken leg as he did so. "He's been treated for radiation and crash trauma. As you can see, I'm fixing a broken leg and Dr. Jai just completed surgery on his shoulder, which was the most significant injury." Glancing up at the patient, he added. "I'll have a physical therapy program drawn up for you to optimize regaining full use of that."

“Oh,” Ranger responded after a time. “Right.” His head still buzzed from either the crash, the radiation or the drugs - or all three. The concept registered as something he should expect.

Luka gave a solemn nod, looking between Gunnar and the patient. "I'm glad to hear it. It's not every day we get a shuttle crash." There was mild pride in the Captain's voice; unspoken praise on everyone's response times, though that was short-lived. "I'll give you space to finish up, Lieutenant. When he's ready for visitors, I'd like to have a word."

"Understood, Captain," Gunnar replied, continuing his work. "I'll comm you when he's in recovery."

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