"Dr. Keller to the infirmary. Stat," Woolsey's words rang through her communicator. Jennifer halted her run on one of Atlantis' piers and turned to make her way back to the infirmary. It was one of her scheduled days off. Dressed in Earth clothes, she did not appear like her regular, professional self. As acting Chief Medical Officer on Atlantis, she rarely was out of uniform. Injuries, even on her day off, were a regular occurrence.
She hoped it wasn't SGA-1. Again. Turning on a channel, she directly contacted the commander. "Sir, I'm about two minutes away. Can I get a brief report on my way?"
There was a few moments where silence echoed the radio. "Yes. SGA-1 came in hot. Ronon has minor injuries. Rodney's has a few severe burns from some kind of weapon they fired on our team." He paused. "Doctor, from what I can tell, Sheppard's bad." She increased her speed. "Get here fast."
"Yes, sir. Keller, out." She flew through the last stretch, making her way to the infirmary. Shouting at the growing vigil of men and women, not all military, who had gathered just outside the infirmary. "Let me through. Now!"
The infirmary was chaos. Ronon, refusing to be treated by any of the doctors, was trying to make his way over to the corner of the room. Rodney was hysterical and screaming from a burn wound that looked painful but not serious. Blood was streaming out of his pant leg. One of the nurses cursed as she slipped on it. Elevating his leg and cutting away the material, the nurse shouted over to am onlooking marine to get the floor cleaned up.
Seeing another doctor take position next to the nurse, she took Woolsey's warning about Sheppard seriously and let the two of them deal with Rodney's injury. Following Ronon's frantic gaze, she ran to the corner where several nurses and a doctor surrounded Colonel John Sheppard.
The control room, despite the medical emergency currently going on, had to still prepare to greet their scheduled visitors from Earth. When the worm hole opened, Major Evan Lorne stepped down from control room to welcome Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Dr. Daniel Jackson. His mind was still on his commanding officer and whether he would make it through the surgery. Lorne's ear piece was still in place in case he received an update on Sheppard.
The two men from Earth emerged through the wormhole. Almost instantly, he almost smiled at their different reactions. While Cameron had a relaxed, amused expression on despite hauling several bags, Jackson looked around in wonder, almost in a child-like trance. Mouth agape, he also trudged through heavy laden with military issued canvas bags.
"Sir," Evan immediately stood at attention. Then looking at Jackson, he held out his hand. "Major Evan Lorne. We've met once or twice at the SGC." He turned to face both men. "Commander Woolsey apologizes for not meeting you both in person, but he's in the infirmary. SGA-1 team came back pretty banged up."
Instantly, Cameron looked concerned. "Anything serious?"
Nodding, Evan began showing them the way. No one had directly ordered him to show the guests to any specific room, so he brought them both to where he wanted to be. On their way to the infirmary, he explained the current situation.
"It looks like Colonel Sheppard was critical, sir." Evan's worry about his CO was evident to Cameron. "Dr. McCay looked like he had a painful injury as well. Ronon was cut up a little. To be quite honest, sir, nothing takes down Ronon," the corners of the major's mouth turned upward for a brief moment.
"Ah. Yeah, I've read about Ronon in mission reports," Cameron drawled. "Sounds like our Teal'c."
"Is that all you brought?" Lorne questioned the men.
The two looked at each other. "No. The Daedalus brought the rest last week. Should be waiting for us."
They rounded a corner and were met with dozens of military and civilian occupants of Atlantis. Both men dropped their stuff off in a corner and joined the rest of a group of people standing outside the infirmary doors.
"Team, give me an update." Jennifer pushed through the women.
One of her doctors looked relieved that she was there. He noted she had not even had time to change. As she approached and leaned towards Sheppard, she was instantly spotted with blood seeping through his thigh.
"Doctor Keller. Thank goodness." He began. Although he was almost her equal, he had great respect for the young woman. "Approximately five minutes ago, Colonel Sheppard's team came through. There was heavy fire on the planet. Sheppard's the worst. Bullet to the thigh." He lowered his voice. "I think it nicked an artery. We can't stop the bleeding."
After a brief look at the wound he exposed from the clean towels he had pushed onto Sheppard's thigh, she agreed. "Prep surgery now. I'm scrubbing up."
Jennifer ran to change into scrubs. She threw everything on without closing the door to the woman's room. Running to scrub up, she yelled over to a nurse treating Rodney. "Marie, update on McCay."
"It's a nasty burn, but nothing that won't heal in a few weeks. We're treating it now, doctor." Marie, trying to calm down Rodney's yells, sent her a look. "I'm about to sedate him." Sensing that Rodney was about to hyperventilate, she gave Marie a quick nod.
"Doctor, we also have four boys who Sheppard insisted on returning with in a side room. It didn't seem like any of them were critical from initial reports, but we need someone to confirm that," Marie yelled.
Jennifer yelled for a nurse to check on the boys and scrubbed up. She flew through the doors to the operating room they had set up on Atlantis. Hands steady, she nodded at her team and began working. Once the bullet had been removed, she had to quickly go in and repair the damage. Sheppard's vitals kept steady throughout the surgery. After the repair work was done, Jennifer allowed herself to take a deep breath of relief. Giving the nurses post-op instructions, she pulled off her gloves and returned to the main room.
Cameron recognized some of the people standing around him, but most seemed unfamiliar to him. No one was speaking. He made his way over to Commander Woolsey and noted the man's worried expression. He relaxed, slightly, to greet Cameron and Daniel. Lorne, anxious to hear any news, asked Woolsey for an update.
"Dr. Keller is operating on him right now," Woolsey stated. "We're waiting for someone to let us know how the surgery went."
At that second, a small woman emerged from the infirmary dressed in scrubs. Blood covered her in more than one area. She looked hot and began pulling off the cap covering her hair, revealing a bouncy ponytail. A nurse, maybe? Cameron was too far away to see her face. He couldn't hear what she said, but Woolsey's smile gave everyone a huge sigh of relief.
"All right people, it sounds like we'll be stuck with Colonel Sheppard. He's expected to make a full recovery." Woolsey thanked the woman and she returned to the infirmary.
For the first time, he noticed a room off of the infirmary. Four young boys were sitting on stretchers, covered in dirt and mud. Two of them were laying down and were getting looked at by a nurse. The younger, smaller ones were crying softly, still frightened from the world they had just escaped from. He wandered over to the second one laying down, noticing he was quiet. His breaths were ragged. Cameron noticed the dark marks and swelling around his neck. The boy's eyes were closed, but it was clear he was not getting enough oxygen.
Swiveling his head, he saw the same young woman who spoke to Woolsey come in and speak with the nurse tending to the other boy. She no longer was wearing the scrubs and instead had on a long sleeve t-shirt and running pants. Her high was in a high, spiky pony tail, making her look like she just finished a high school cross country event.
"Hey!" He sent them a frantic look. "Get a doctor in here. This boy is barely breathing."
Barely acknowledging the unfamiliar face, Jennifer saw the boy's coloring turn blue before her eyes. He had stopped breathing. Seeing that he had a severe neck injury, she dreaded doing the procedure she knew had to be done. Shouting for the nurse to grab a straw, she pinned Cameron with a look. "You. Hold him down. We only have three minutes until he's brain dead." She yanked a drawer open next to him and removed a small scalpel. "Don't let him go until I tell you to."
Jennifer paused to steady her hand. She swabbed the boy's neck and removed the direct with an alcohol pad. Taking a deep breath, she felt for the cricothyroid membrane.
Blanching, Cameron looked at her. "You're not about to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" Looking over at the other nurse, who was returning with a straw, he yelled at her. "Are you sure about this? Can't anyone find a doctor? We need help."
The nurse shot him a dirty look. "You're standing next to the CMO, idiot."
Surprised, he looked back at Jennifer. He didn't have time to apologize, or think, for that matter. The young doctor had placed a small cut going up and down on the boy's throat. Working quickly, she carefully pulled the skin apart. Blood began to flow from the boy's neck, making Cameron's legs week. The boy, still conscious but not breathing at this point, began to thrash. Cameron closed his eyes for a moment and pulled his body down over the kid's torso, holding his arms by his side so they didn't knock the doctor's hand.
Meanwhile, Jennifer ignored everything around her and made a second small cut into the boy's cricothryroid membrane. Dropping the knife, she called to the nurse.
"Hand me the straw. Now." Looking at the clock, she knew the boy only had about a minute left. Once the straw was in her hand, she placed the straw into the opening. Instantly, the boy's gasped for breath. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jennifer sighed.
"Never a dull moment..." she muttered. "OK. Let's get him into the OR so we can get this cleaned up and put in a real trach." The nurse, taking over by holding the straw, yelled for another nurse to transport the boy. A marine came in and gathered the other kids together to get checked out in the infirmary, now that things had calmed down. Together, they left, leaving Cameron alone in the room with Jennifer.
Too tired to play small talk, she turned and threw out her gloves into the trash can. Breathing for the first time without some medical emergency in the past two hours, she ran the cold water over her hands and scrubbed them clean. She splashed cool water over her face and wiped it dry before turning to the man in the room.
One look at the man had her rushing over to his side. His face had turned a sickly, pale green. "Sit!" When he refused, she pushed him into the chair. "Now." She shoved his head between his legs and instructed him to take deep breaths. Turning to the cabinet, she opened a can of apple juice and put it into his hands.
Slowly raising his head, he groaned. "Sorry. I'm usually not like this." He took a sip of juice, feeling the blood return to his head. "But that was just... probably one of the most intense things I've seen in a long time."
Deciding to give the man a break, she sat and gave him a smile. "It probably didn't help that it was a young boy." Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell it read on his tag. She had heard of the name from various reports she gets from the SGC. She glanced over at the door as Evan came in the room, she nodded towards the infirmary. "Are things calming down in there? McCay sedated yet?"
Lorne gave a puzzled expression at Mitchell, wondering why he looked so green. "No one will let me go in yet."
Understanding the need to see his CO, Jennifer stood up. Grabbing a juice for herself, she popped it open and jerked her head towards Cameron. "If you can make sure the major doesn't make any sudden moves, I'll go check on him for you." Sending a smirk at Sheppard, she walked out of the room.
"Actually, doc," Evan called out after her. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Cam-"
"Save it, major," Cameron called out as he heard her laugh in the hallway. "I deserved it."