Life through the Aftermath
Chapter 1: Fight for your Life
Christine Chapel, head nurse of the starship Enterprise, rushed around Sickbay administering to various patients' needs and nurses' questions. Their captain had just gotten into another one of his famous scuffles with friendly-enough-aliens turned hostile, and the wounded had swamped Sickbay with different shades of purple and red. Some crewmen were moderately injured with cuts and bruises (and the occasional burning) from collapsing machinery, but many had been directly in the line of fire and their wounds had bled red even while the Sickbay staff rushed to save them.
Christine herself was fatigued, but she didn't let on to that easily; under her sweet exterior lay a very tough woman who refused to give up, even in the face of this mess. Before Dr. McCoy could ask for one, she tossed him a perfectly measured sedative hypo while at the same time grabbing a cool, damp cloth for a patient suffering from fever. She's a whirlwind of a woman, Dr. McCoy thought briefly as he administered the hypo, but that's just what we need in a place like this.
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Nyota Uhura's fingers flew over her Communications station console, rapidly pressing buttons and turning dials to adjust the tuning of the incoming messages. Captain Kirk was behind her, facing the giant screen and pulling off one of his usual saving speeches, but she wasn't totally paying attention; she had to sort through dozens of reports coming in all at once-damage reports from Engineering and Security, swamps of Medical casualties, and most importantly, the transmissions from the enemy ship. It was vital she keep tabs on what they were planning, as well as making sure they didn't know she was listening in, deciphering their native language, and relaying the information to her superiors as was needed. Quickly scanning Scotty's report on the warp nacelles while listening to the foreign language coursing through her earpiece, she turned around in her chair just in time to receive Kirk's signal and close communications.
Captain Kirk sat-or rather stumbled-back down in his chair as the ship rocked from another alien hit.
"Captain, Mr. Scott reports warp nacelles functional up to Warp Three," Mr. Spock informed the Captain, his own dexterous fingers tapping through files on his console. Uhura continued listening to the alien tongue while sifting through ten more reports that had just come in from the overworked engineer; he had been too busy to call the Captain and tell him the news, but he had known if he sent the report to Uhura, she could forward it to Spock or tell the Captain herself. Forward it she had, as she was preoccupied with translating the alien language and learning their plans before it was too late.
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Christine grabbed the sturdy railing of a bio-bed as the ship shivered and bucked, sending any medical equipment not strapped down or being used crashing to the ground. Luckily for the Enterprise and her casualties, the Sickbay staff were far too efficient and trained in battle conditions to let much equipment fall. She whispered a quick word to the patient to soothe him before taking off for the next one who was just arriving, judging by the telltale whoosh of the Sickbay doors. It was then that she realized just who was coming in.
She rushed forward faster to reach him, if a speed boost was even possible, expertly weaving around the other nurses as the ship shook again. Seeing his condition, she immediately started rattling off the supplies she would need to the attending nurse and sending another one for Dr. McCoy, who was on the other side of the chaotic room.
"It's alright, Mr. Spock," she said steadily to the Vulcan whose green blood was slowly coating his head, "Dr. McCoy is coming. We'll have you back on your feet in no time." Spock didn't say anything in response, which worried Christine; turning to the nurse who had brought him in, she demanded to know what had happened.
Dr. McCoy assisted her in that. After quite a lot of swearing at the news that the Vulcan's head trauma was from his console exploding into sparks and bits of scrap metal, the doctor managed to get him on a bio-bed. McCoy scanned him rapidly and prepared to treat him, Christine at his side assisting the whole time. She was going to do all in her power to make sure Spock, as well as the other casualties, survived.
There really wasn't any other choice.
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The ship ducked and groaned as Sulu piloted it out of harm's way and Chekov fired photon torpedoes with as much accuracy as he could at the foreign vessel. Scott's voice could be heard over the chaos from the Engineering deck surrounding him as he and Kirk tried to find the best way to get out of this mess alive.
Uhura kept listening and tuning, drowning out all other noise and sensations as were necessary and only focusing on finding the correct frequency for the aliens' engineering section. She had to find out where their ship's weak points were; she was likely the Enterprise's best chance at taking down the strange vessel with Spock out of commission, Scott's engines compromising quickly, and the exhausted Captain trying desperately to hold the ship's beams and bolts together by the straps of his shoes.
Suddenly, she felt everything click and the alien tongue come into focus, unmistakable sounds of panic and confusion blaring into her earpiece. Something about their engines failing in Tier 2, near the outer hull. Perfect.
Spinning around in her chair, her clear voice arched over the chaos on the bridge and reached the Captain's ears. "Captain, their outer hull is weakening near the tail of the ship."
"Chekov, Sulu, go!" Kirk shouted, not needing to give specific orders to his highly trained men at that point in the battle.
Uhura turned back to her console, one eye on the ship's screen and the other on the reports piling in from the Enterprise, both ears filled with alien speech.
So when the Enterprise struck true and the other ship's hull collapsed, it was she who heard the almost unbearable rise in volume of the alien transmissions as hundreds of foreign crewmembers died and their ship exploded.
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Christine leaned against one of Sickbay's walls and sighed heavily, sucking in air for dear life as the Captain announced that they had escaped the alien ship. Her eyes flitted open and she scanned the room, watching several nurses triple-check patients and equipment before leaving for their quarters. A few more patients had straggled in after the battle was over, but they were relatively unharmed and one of the junior nurses was able to take care of them while Christine caught her breath. Usually she would handle everything herself, but her junior had insisted, so here she was.
She glanced towards Spock's bio-bed and watched the monitors rise and fall with each breath he took. The head trauma had been more serious than usual with all the consoles exploding on the Enterprise, and he had been totally out of it when she and Dr. McCoy tended to him. McCoy had managed to stop the bleeding, both internally and externally, and patch up the skin, but a great deal of pressure had been put on the Vulcan's brain and he was still recovering. The doctor had told Christine as he left to tend other critical patients that their commanding officer had had a good chance of recovery, but she had worked too long with him in these conditions to not notice the worried crinkles around his eyes and mouth.
Spock was fighting for his life.
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Chapter Two coming up shortly! Please review and tell me what you think! :)
