i.
Ensign Oro stands in the lab, stunned and unsure what to do. Outside everyone is mobilized, she can hear the bustle and the shouting even through the door. When they got the call from Vulcan, Oro knew she would be unhelpful. She's a geologist, not a soldier. So she stands in the lab she was assigned, entertaining the thought that maybe they'd want her to beam down and investigate the mining equipment.
The other ensigns who also reported to the lab, have been filtering in and out as emergency calls (Ensign Fernandez has medical experience, he is called to sickbay. Ensign Sato is skilled in combat, she is sent to the upper decks "just in case"). Lt. Jasper, their overseer, has been sitting on a stool, with his hands clasped together and sweat collecting on his forehead.
The Enterprise rolls, and Oro grabs the table in alarm. A blast rocks the ship and suddenly she's on the ground, sirens blaring in her ears, and smoke clogs her vision. Lt. Jasper is lying beside her amongst debris from the ship with blood pooling around his head. Oro feels ill as she pulls him up into a chair. She fumbles with oxygen masks, but finally secures one around Jasper's lolling head. There is a gash on his head and blood is trickling down his uniform. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Ensign Jenner calls them to evacuate. But there's so much blood- bubbling out of his head, on her hands, her uniform- pouring out of Sara's arm and she's so little and she's wearing her white church clothes but now they're almost purple and her parents are screaming and- Oro takes a deep breath.
Jenner has already left for the upper decks, so it's Oro who drags a barely conscious Jasper to his feet and supports him as she leaves for the sickbay. It's crowded outside the lab, the other junior scientists are hurrying to salvage as much of their labs as possible and no one pays them any attention as she struggles to support Jasper. Oro thinks this is what the end of the world will be like, a lot of shoving and pushing and no helping.
Finally she spots a lift sporting several other injured and she jumps towards it, her arms are starting to shake from Lt. Jasper's weight and her back aches. She squeezes them inside.
ii.
The sickbay is just as stuffy and crowded and just as much of a mess as the junior science labs. Ensign Oro repositions Lt. Jasper across her back, she can feel his faint heartbeat against her own and it's reassuring.
"Critical?" a nurse asks her, and Oro nods. The nurse directs her to the right, it's less crowded than the left, but that's hardly comforting. The medical staff has their work cut out for them today.
Oro carefully arranges Lt. Jasper on one of the gurneys that have been brought out.
"Name?" a doctor bends over and checks Jasper's pulse.
"Ensign Oro."
"His name, Ensign," he seems tired.
"Lieutenant Jasper, sir."
The doctor nods and taps something into his PADD. A nurse comes over and together she and the doctor bandage Lt. Jasper's head and check his vital signs between visits to other patients. Oro stands nearby, unsure again of what to do. The doctor- McCoy- steps aside and motions her over.
"I'm afraid he's lost too much blood," he says, "And he's losing more."
"You can't-"
"I'm a doctor not a miracle worker Ensign," McCoy snaps, this past hour (only an hour and it feels almost like a day) has been too taxing, too out of his control. His eyes soften for a moment, "He's got minutes left, all we can do for him is make him comfortable." Oro nods and Doctor McCoy is off to another patient.
Lt. Jasper is very still and Oro rests her hand on his.
"I'm sorry," she whispers.
Lt. Jasper opens his mouth, but closes it again without saying anything. He weakly squeezes her hand and smiles faintly. The turmoil of the sickbay behind her dims and she takes several strangled breaths.
Doctor McCoy is behind her again and puts a hand on her shoulder, "All hands are being called to report on the bridge."
Oro nods numbly and before McCoy turns to another patient, he looks at her sympathetically, "Things'll get worse before they'll get better, Ensign."
a/n: eh, i'm not a big fan of oc-fics but this idea wouldn't get out of my head after watching star trek 2009. it's a bit sloppy in some places, and feels incomplete but what can you do? (make it less sloppy that's what you do, but whatever). and if anyone is curious, Ensign Oro's name was spontaneous, but after looking up "oro" i learned about a Catalonian biochemist named Joan Oró, he's pretty cool.