Hang on, Snoopy (by T'Aral, Kerris & Gage)

[Gage Silver 0]

Sucked in by the new crisis, his dislocated shoulder, though painful, went unappreciated as Gage leaned over the console and awkwardly keyed commands with his left hand. He studied the screen with narrowed eyes on the red-lined coolant levels, auto-shutdown notification from reactor control, and system logs. What the hell...?

 

A second command remotely pulled status on the Fusion Reactors and Gage was relieved to see green across the board. At least the Fusion Reactors remained functional and capable of supplying power to the Creek’s critical systems beyond the limited primary battery. It looked like only the Matter-Antimatter Reactor and Warp Engines had taken the critical hits; they were more or less stranded, but not without life support or communications.

 

Kerris was still in engineering-- nothing else for her to do, right?-- and was eyeing Gage as she worked. He didn’t seem to realise he was in pain. She frowned, and came over to him, leaning against the console he was working on. ‘Reactors back up?’

 

“Nope,” Gage replied without diverting his attention. “Gonna take awhile.”

 

'Think someone else could take care of it?' she wondered, waving a hang towards his injured shoulder. 'That needs attention. You'll be more focused once it is.'

 

“What?” he drawled and looked down, frowning at the obvious deformity. “Right. Yeah.” Vacating the console he slowly moved down the catwalk and positioned over the ladder, gripping the railing with his good arm.

 

The climb down went a bit faster than he’d intended. Negotiating the ladder with one hand, his footing slipped on the last few rungs and he pivoted around the rail to which he clung, hitting the other side of the ladder as he fell to the deck. “Ow,” he dryly sounded at the bottom.

 

Kerris rushed over to the railing, worried but fighting back a smile. He was so stubborn. She climbed down the ladder after him, then helped him up. 'Alright, not giving you a choice now,' she said, shooting him an evil smile. 'Off we go.'

 

“Where...” Gage began to retort as he climbed to his feet, but paused as he thought better of it. “Never mind,” he recanted, wincing; “being a smart... hurts too much right now.”

 

Kerris pulled his good arm over her shoulders. 'Take the time it takes to walk to sick bay to think of a whopper,' she said, starting to walk him out of engineering.

 

“Geeze, now you’re gonna torture me with hunger, too?” Gage muttered and hissed as they exited into the corridor, feeling an uncomfortable strain from the hold she had on his good arm.

 

'I'll head to mess and get you something,' she said, rolling her eyes, not quite understanding how she had made him hungry. She leaned him against the wall, of the TL, taking them to sickbay.

 

Gage rode most of the way in silence, his head back against he wall and eyes closed. Unlike Gage, but who could honestly fault him?

 

“Thanks,” Gage finally said as the lift indicated they were nearing their destination.

 

Kerris looked at him, scritching her head awkwardly. 'No big deal. Need you at your best.' She then looked away, up to the roof of the lift.

 

Gage smirked and then he started to chuckle. The lift came to halt and the doors opened.

 

Kerris looked back down at him. 'What is so funny?' She offered her help again.

 

Accepting her assistance, he exited the lift. “Was just thinking how painful that ride could’ve been,” he remarked without explaining, recalling a few particular lift rides with an unnamed Gunner.

 

'I could have stopped the lift and made you suffer,' she said sadistically, her mind turning to try to figure out what he meant. She walked him slowly down the corridor.

 

“Yeah, you could’ve, but you didn’t,” he said, smiling.

 

'But that's not what you meant,' she said, frowning a little, confused.

 

Gage continued smiling even as she looked confused. “You’re a nice girl, Kerris.”

 

'Um... Thanks,' she answered after a few seconds. 'So are you.' There was a beat before she almost tripped, and then said. 'A nice guy, I mean.'

 

Gage chuckled at her, turning to stop in front of the sickbay entrance. “Glad you got that straightened out.”

 

She blushed, though she wasn't sure if he could tell behind her dark skin. 'I know you're a man,' she said simply, before she looked at the door, and then opened it.

 

Gage thought of a few inappropriate suggestions she could take to ensure she was confident of that fact, but recalled the last time he’d made Kerris uncomfortable and kept them to himself. He just smirked more instead, finding her embarrassment too amusing to dispel.

 

“Hello, doc!” he called out, entering sickbay with a faint look of surprise at the number of injuries he saw there -- he’d hoped he was the only one.

 

T’Aral turned about to see the entering pair. The Medical Bay was reasonably uncluttered thanks to sufficient preparation. The staff, however, was currently taking care of its own injuries while trying to care for others. Even T’Aral had picked up a number of bruises, including a particularly visible one across her forehead from a time when one of the turbulent jolts spilled her over. The cabinet she ran into had appropriately curved corners which kept the impact from gashing - the result was, however, still extremely painful as it slowly welted into a deep olive. Considering the trip, their injuries were light. It did, however, initiate a line of thought within T’Aral’s mind regarding using Sickbay restraints as seat-belts for the medical staff in such situations, so that when the journey was completed they would be in better condition to tend to others. A pity that she didn’t have the thought earlier, but then one of the reasons Vulcans admired creativity and intuition so much was because they had precious little of it. A discipline of logic didn’t lend itself to coming up with creative thoughts when none were needed.

 

Getting a nod from Ensign Khole - an assurance that she didn’t have a serious concussion - T’Aral stepped across the bay to greet Ensigns Silver and Kea. “Please step this way.” Taking a moment to examine the pair, she led them over to a bio-bed. “Given your stances, I assume Ensign Silver is the subject of this visit … unless you both have serious injuries?” She could tell that something sufficiently serious was wrong with Gage, but with Kerris it would be harder to tell as she did not possess experience with her species.

 

“Dunno,” Gage remarked, urging Kerris forward; “got any complaints, Kerris?”

 

'I have thick skin and the bones of a dragon. Takes more than the likes of you to injure me,' she said, pulling Gage forward. 'He's the injured one. Don't let his humour fool you.'

 

Gage grinned stupidly at the doctor, masking the subtle wince caused by Kerris’s jostling. “Hope you’ve got band-aids.”

 

'It'll take more than a bandaid,' Kerris muttered.

 

It took only a moment for the medical scanners to confirm what T’Aral had suspected from Gage’s stance - complete subluxation of the humerus. There was ultimately one treatment for the condition, but some amount of preparation would make the next step less traumatic. She began by pressing on several nerve bundles about Gage’s shoulder, and as she pressed the pain eased.

 

Gage watched her, obviously puzzled by her actions and the subsiding pain. “Uh, what’re you doin’ to my arm, doc?”

 

“It is neuro-pressure, Ensign … nothing to be concerned about. It will make the next step in your recovery more comfortable.” As she pressed, the nerves began to deaden. “Your shoulder nerves will be quieted for the next several seconds during the transition. Afterwards there will be soreness, but this will prevent any sharp pain from occurring.”

 

Gage half-chuckled, a hint of disbelief in his voice as he remarked: “Wish they’d taught us that trick that in Medic school.”

 

Kerris watched on quietly, eyebrows furrowed, but her full trust in the Vulcan.

 

T’Aral continued to work on Gage’s shoulder, carefully numbing critical points until - without warning - she firmly grabbed the Ensign’s shoulder and popped it back into place. “There - now please wait a moment while I bring a splint for you.”

 

Gage blinked as the doctor suddenly jerked his shoulder into place; just like that, the deformity was gone and all as she’d promised. “Ow...?” he murmured looking at his arm, almost feeling robbed. Almost.

 

‘That’s pretty amazing,’ Kerris whispered, her face smooth again. ‘No pain at all?’

 

“None. No joke that trick,” Gage answered, wearing a stunned grin. He was tempted to swing his arm around like a buffoon, just to test it, but wisely decided to remain still.

 

She muttered a surprised curse under her breath, smiling. ‘I might have to get her to teach me that. Wait until they see that back home. Make those miners feel like new.’

 

“Can think of another someone who should learn that trick,” Gage mused, largely to himself.

 

‘Who?’ Kerris wondered, looking at Gage, raising her eyebrows.

 

Gage just grinned. She frowned at his grinning. He loved to confuse her, more than she probably realized.

 

T’Aral returned, wrapping Gage’s arm in the splint and securing it both vertically and around his body to properly restrain the arm. “The numbness will wear off in a few moments, at which point your shoulder will be moderately sore. I recommend you remain in the medical bay for the next fifteen minutes, to determine if you require medication for the pain. At that point I recommend that you remain off the active duty roster for forty-eight to seventy-two hours, preferably remaining in the medical bay under observation.

 

“I expect you have no intention of accepting my recommendation - a trait common among humans, especially those in situations where specific skills are required. I also expect that my views on the matter will not be supported by the chain of command. Therefore, I must insist that the brace remain in place and properly secured, and that you employ an assistant for performing tasks under your supervision. If you fail to do so, you will injure yourself to the point where surgery will be required. Should that become necessary, you will be confined to a bed.”

 

“You’re the expert,” Gage replied, still grinning and on the verge of chuckling. What had Ashworth called it all those years ago: ‘Vulcan....tourettes’? Gage thought that logic-driven frankness was refreshing and amusing -- when you weren’t trying to beat the odds winging a piece of junk through an asteroid field.

 

T’Aral raised an eyebrow at the sight of Gage’s smile. “Do not take my words lightly, Ensign Silver. If your shoulder does not heal effectively, it will dislocate again under less strenuous circumstances and eventually become a chronic problem. This will require surgery to correct, or else you will have to be reassigned to a non-combat posting where stress on your shoulder will not be a factor. Even with a reassignment, a chronic injury is likely to become a limiting factor in later years.

 

“I recognize that the situation we are in is serious, and even medical recommendations must make concessions to this. I accept this, however I must make you aware of the risks you are taking and the probable outcome of the situation you are in. How well you heal depends entirely on you.”

 

“You look at my medical record lately?” Gage’s smile persisted. “Got it covered.”

Edited January 30, 2012 by Gage Silver

[Crash Calestorm 0]

Nice joint log guys!