The Long Road to Consciousness

Posted on Thu Dec 9th, 2010 @ 8:32am by Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw & Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen & Commodore Samantha York

1,077 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

He was back in the garden. He remembered this day particularly well, for it was the last time he had seen his father alive. He stood, turned around and bowed as he heard the elderly man's quiet feet heading towards him.

The old man chuckled. "I figgered you would be back here, with them peach trees. They were your momma's pride and joy, and her favorite gift ever from ya, boy. She was ever so proud of the first jams and pies she was able to make from them there peaches, and don't you ever forget it son. She was proud of ya, I am proud of yer, and I just wanted to let you know that before you ship out again. Flying is in your blood, it was in mine too. Do what you do best, and always make us proud."

He turned to his father to say something else, and everything went black.

Doctor Leanne Bowen has prepared the biobed when the transporter tech notified her an emergency transport of a pilot. "I'm ready, energize." She watched a man appeared and waited till the beam finished, before she touched a button to raise the biobed's body scanner. Just as the sides opened, the dark glass came up and over the patient's body. A light came on and scanned his body. She walked over to his head and bent over to get closer to his face, "Ensign? Can you hear me?"

Randy opened his eyes a crack, let them focus, and then replied in a hoarse voice. "Yes, Doctor, I can hear you. Multiple broken bones, energy burns, concussion, possible TBI, and severe de-hydration. I am no medic, but I can tell you I have at least that much going on." He grimaced at a spike of pain. "How long before I can get around to reporting back the Commander? I have some things that need to be relayed that are for her ears alone."

"Welcome back to USS Calypso. Let me be the judge of that," she patted his shoulder and straighten her back. "It's hard to say when. I'm waiting for the scans to finish, so you might want to be still." She looked at Nurse Jaynes, "Nurse, hand me the PADD with his information."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So..." Doctor Bowen looked down at the Ensign, "do you remember the last thing that happened before you passed out?"

Ensign McGraw took a moment, and then responded. "I had just setup the communications array to broadcast my distress call, and then, having been awake and operating for over 96 hours straight, I succumbed to exhaustion. I only came to momentarily when I was beamed off the ship."

====

When Sam got word that Ensign McGraw was on board, she left the bridge and headed for the turbolift.

She asked the nurse on duty for directions to the Ensign's room. She caught the tail end of Randy's comment. "Why didn't you take a break?" she said. "No one but a Vulcan should be awake for that long."

Ensign McGraw looked to the Captain, and did a double take. "Well, first congrats on the promotion. Second, its great to see you too. And third," he sighed. "Third, if I hadn't stayed functioning that long you would be finding yourself a new Wing Commander, Ma'am. The ship had taken such a beating that its a miracle I even made it back. No offense Ma'am, but I didn't do it to be difficult." He smiled as he said the last little bit, just grateful to be home again, where he belonged.

"Well, I'm glad to have you back in reparable pieces," she said, tongue-in-cheek. "But there are limits. Even for cocky fly boys."

Randy looked at her smiling. "I would laugh, but I think a few of m'ribs are in pieces, as you put it."

"Is there anything I need to know that can't wait for a day or two?" Sam asked. "Because if not, your first priority is to get better."

Doctor Bowen approached them from the other room as she heard them talking. "He will be released in 24 hours, but another 24 hours of rest in his quarters if he can follow orders. Your ribs will be sore for awhile," she said to him. "Broke two of his ribs, liver was lacerated by the rib, small tear in his colon, spiral fracture in his upper leg, first-degree burns to certain areas, and was dehydrated. He will live," she smiled as she looked at her PADD for a split second. "Lucky."

Randy smiled at the Doctor, "Thank you, I appreciate the patch job. I do have one favor though. Hidden from your sensors, is a wafer thin chip behind my ear, just under the skin. It was put there by the SpecOps team, and contains a message and information for the Captain. Could you get at it for me?"

She was surprised, "That didn't show up on my scanners. I will certainly remove that." Leanne picked up a special instrument and moved back some of his hair to see the area behind his ear. She worked with it till it freed itself and handed the chip to him. "There you go. Well, I better get back to work, Ensign. Captain." She turned and walked away.

Randy flipped over the chip, pressed the green switch on the back. "All you have to do is give your command code and retinal scan and the information will be available ma'am. My debrief is contained within it, as well as a message from the SpecOps commander I was working with. I know its a little unorthodox, but you know how Intel is." With that he reached out his hand to the captain, trying not to shake as he held his hand out palm up.

It was unorthodox, but she would have a look at the data and see if it was worth all the trouble. "Thank you, Ensign," she said, taking the chip. "I'll look at it right away. Now, you need to rest and recover." She turned and headed for the door, then stopped. "Thank you," she said before leaving.

"Just doing my duty, Captain. Congrats again." With that, he quietly closed his eyes, relaxed, and enjoyed the first solid sleep he had been able to get in a week.

OFF

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant LeAnn Bowen
Chief Medical Officer
USS Calypso

Ensign Randall McGraw
Wing Commander
USS Calypso

 

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