Down To Thirteen

[Ritah Lowen 0]

"Did I hear him right?"

 

Ritah glanced at Patti Holland and then quickly returned her attention to their seriously injured patient. She and Patti were about the same age. They'd been assigned to Manticore within weeks of each other so both were fairly new to the ship. On a personal level, Ritah didn't know Patti very well. But professionally, she couldn't have chosen a better nurse to work with.

 

She was grateful to have Patti's assistance with this particular patient. At the moment, they were struggling the stabilize the middle aged male who had suffered a major brain injury. To make matters worse, he was badly burned over 90% of his body. For now, he was in a deep coma, blessedly unaware of his pain. His chances for survival were slim and none but if, by some miracle, he managed to live, he would definitely lose both legs.

 

"That depends on what you heard," replied Ritah, a little more brusquely than she intended. Patti was referring to Dr. Mele's brief comment made just a few moments earlier....a comment that left Ritah both shocked and angry.

 

"We're leaving....and we're taking these people with us?"

"It appears you heard him correctly."

 

"That's crazy!" Patti shook her head as she continued scanning their patient's burned flesh. "There may only be fourteen of them, but most are just as bad off as this poor man." She paused and looked at Ritah once again. "And they're all civilians! Heck, we don't even know their names!"

 

Ritah literally bit her tongue to keep from saying something she might later regret. She happened to agree with Patti so she understood the nurse's frustration. When Dr. Mele stopped by to tell them the Manticore was leaving orbit, Ritah tried to ask him about the critically injured civilians now undergoing treatment in Sickbay. But he cut her off before she could speak. He made it clear they couldn't wait for the hospital ship....they had to leave immediately and the only alternative was to take the civilian patients with them.

 

"Word has it the McCoy is on the way," said Patti, clearly annoyed. "What difference would another hour make?"

 

"We don't know when the McCoy will arrive," snapped Ritah. "And we're not privy to the intelligence information available to the Admiral and his command staff." She made eye contact with Patti for a brief second. "If I was in charge, I might do things differently," she continued, lowering her voice. "But I'm not the one calling the shots around here."

 

"I didn't think you approved."

"It isn't up to us to approve or disapprove," sighed Ritah. "We're here to follow orders and take care of these patients."

 

They continued the battle to stabilize their hapless patient for several minutes before Patti again broke the silence. "Have you noticed anything familiar about the radiation signature?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

Dr. Lowen glanced at the nurse and nodded. "Yeah. But it's too early to jump to any conclusions."

"Do you think he knows?" questioned Patti, nodding toward the CMO's office.

"I'd bet real money it," quipped Ritah. "That may be one reason we're leaving in such a hurry.

 

Their "John Doe" chose that moment to crash. They'd run a complete inner nucial series, including a hyper-encephalogram about two hours earlier. They kept repeating the encephalogram every ten minutes to monitor his brainwave activity. It had been gradually deteriorating from the beginning but now, it abruptly stopped. Within seconds, he was gone.

 

The alarm took Ritah by surprise. Considering the rate of decline, she didn't anticipated such a sudden end to this man's battle for life. From the expression on Patti's face, she wasn't expecting it either. Although they hadn't bothered to discuss it, both women knew there would be no heroic efforts made to revive this patient. Instead, they both took one step back from the biobed and allowed themselves a moment to grasp the reality of what had just happened and wonder about what was to come.

 

Five minutes later, Ritah approached Dr. Mele's office. The door was open. She stopped just outside and waited until the CMO looked up from the padd he was reviewing. She smiled sadly and shrugged her shoulders. "Just wanted to let you know, we're down to thirteen."

Edited June 21, 2008 by Ritah Lowen