What if the shot fired from Rick Gallagher's gun on the Bridge of the Hammersley at the end of Cometh the Hour did more damage than clipping Kate's wing? This story recaps the events which occur just before the shooting and then deviates from there. No copyright is intended. I don't own these characters, they belong to McElroy productions, Channel Nine etc, I'm just borrowing them for some fun and I promise I shall return them unharmed – well except perhaps for Ursula Morell (Mmmwhahaha). Any spelling or grammatical errors are mine and mine alone so I'll appologise before hand.
Text in Italics is action and dialogue belonging to the episode of Sea Patrol S01E13 Cometh the Hour written by Dave Warner and Directed by Chris Martin-Jones.
Now on with the fun…………..
"Say again ET" the CO questions into the radio
"I say again it is not Gallagher" ET's voice confirms
The bridge door swings open and in walks Gallagher restraining a struggling Ursula Morell who is held at gun point
"Of course it's not! It wasn't that far to swim and none of your people were watching the starboard side!" Gallagher boasts
Kate acquires Gallagher with her side arm, Gallagher moves his sights between the X and CO
"Don't" Mike exclaims
Gallagher points the gun at the XO. "Don't be foolish Kate" he says
"Let her go, Put down the gun" the CO tries to placate.
Gallagher pretends to think. "Ahhh NO!" he laughs "I am not asking for much Mike. Drive me a few hundred yards that way (he points the gun towards the bridges bow facing window) Give me a RIHB and you get Ursula back without a hole in her head. What could be fairer than that?"
"Lower the weapon" Mike orders Kate
"Sir I" Kate protests
"That's an order X" he demands
Kate reluctantly lowers the gun
"That's the spirit… Kate" Rick smirks
"I did that to show I'm a reasonable man but this ship is going nowhere" Mike exclaims
Rick sticks the gun into Ursula's abdomen
"Please Mike" Ursula pleads
"I'm not bluffing, I'll kill her" Gallagher claims
"Kill her, and we'll kill you" Mike reasons
"I'll do it" Rick says
"Reacquire target" Mike orders Kate
Kate does as she is ordered. Rick moves the pistol from Ursula's abdomen and point's it at Mike
" You'll get one shot away, your choice, her or me, who do you wanna kill the most, after all we both outsmarted you" Mike bates Rick
"No one out smarted me, you got lucky" Rick snarls
"Yea that's what all the losers say." Mike goads
Swain opens the door to the bridge and distracts Gallagher. Rick slams the door shut and, Mike rushes him and he and Rick fight over the gun.
A shot is fired and this is where the story begins……………………………..
As Mike struggles to gain the upper hand with Rick he hears the shot Gallagher gets off as he was grabbing for the weapon. He knew Kate was in the general direction the bullet would have gone and hears something fall. Mike however doesn't turn his attention from the struggle for if Gallagher wins it would most likely turn fatal for all on the bridge.
Finally after what feel's like hours of close quarter combat Mike manages to wrestle the gun from Rick and subdue him with a precisely placed elbow to the temple. Gallagher slumps to the floor unconscious. Swain and Agent Murphy rush into the bridge and tightly handcuff Gallagher. Mike looks up from the body on the floor and over to Ursula huddled in the corner beside the helm chair, her hands over her head.
"Ursula! Are you alright?" he enquires
"Yea, I'm fine. I'm soooo sorry Mike! My research was never meant to hurt anyone, now all these people are dead because of my stupid mistake. I am such a horrible person, what must you think of me!!"
The CO however didn't register any of this after Ursula had said she was ok for his attention had turned to the Radar and the slumped body of his Executive Officer.
"X? X is you Ok?" He yells
Mike rushes over to Kate. As he turns her over he notices she is unconscious and the front of her overalls are covered in blood which appears to be spreading from her left upper chest.
"SWAIN! Swain I need help over here now. It's X. Help her Swain" Mike orders in obvious panic
As Swain rushes to Kate's side he takes in her motionless pale form as well as the considerable amount of blood she had already lost. He puts pressure over the wound and feel's Kate's neck for a carotid pulse which is rapid and weak. He looks up at his CO and notices the panicked look in his eyes as he gazes hopelessly upon his second in command.
"Sir, we need to stop the bleeding and get the X down to the Wardroom. Can you carrier her while I keep my hand over the wound"
When the CO doesn't respond Swain yells "Sir! Sir we have to move now"
"Huh What?" Mike replies as he comes out of his shock and blankly looks at his Coxswain
"We need to get X to the wardroom and my Medical Bag NOW Sir!"
"Right Swain I've got her" Mike says as he swings Kate up in his arms and carries her bridal style as Swain runs behind trying to stop the blood flow. No easy feat along the narrow corridors of the Hammersley.
As they are entering the wardroom Cheffo and Buffer come along the corridor.
"Cheffo" Swain yells "I need some help in here"
They both rush into the room.
"Lay her down on the bench sir. I need to get her overalls off so I can see where the bleeding is coming from. Can you hand me the scissors sir then keep pressure over the wound" Swain directs as he attaches Kate to the portable monitor and puts an oxygen mask on her.
Mike reaches into the medical kit and searches for the scissors. When he locates them he hands them quickly to Swain who is ordering Cheffo to obtain venous access in Kate to run a bag of Hartmann's solution.
"What the hell happened to X Sir?" Buffer asked with obvious distress
"Gallagher got on board with a gun, came into the bridge, we struggled and X was shot."
"WHAT!!" Both Buffer and Cheffo exclaimed at the same time.
Buffer took off out the door for the bridge yelling to Swain to take care of the X.
"I'm in" Cheffo says obviously relieved as he fastened the cannula to Kate's right arm and connected the fluid line.
"Open in up as fast as you can Cheffo, She's lost a lot of blood" Swain says. "Her breathing is shallow, her heart rates 130 and Blood Pressure is really low 85/45. Sir I need to speak to a doctor ASAP.
Cheffo takes over applying pressure to Kate's chest and Mike moves over to the Com and rings through to RO asking to be patched through to Fleet Medical. Whilst waiting for RO to get back to him with a phone Doctor, Mike calls the bridge and tells NAV to immediately call all crew back to the ship and gave the order to set sail for home port as soon as all were accounted for and on board. "Yes sir! Right away! Is the XO ok Boss? Buffer said she was shot"
"She was and I don't know Nav, I really don't know" Mike says in an uncertain voice.
"Sir I have a Doctor Lee from Fleet Medical on the phone for you." RO's voice comes over the line.
"Thanks RO… "Dr Lee, this is Lieutenantnt Commander Flynn, CO of the Hammersley. I'm putting you on loud speaker to talk to my Coxswain about my XO who's been shot"
"Yes sir" Dr Lee says over the phone
"Dr Lee, this is the ships Swain. I have a 28year old female (Don't know her real age so I'm guessing) with a GSW to the upper left chest, there is no visible exit wound, she is unconscious, her airway patent though her breathing is shallow and fast and the right side of her chest is moving much more than the left. Oxygen Saturations are 89 with 10litres of oxygen Heart rate is 130 and BP low at 85/45. I have an 18guage cannula in her right brachial vein with a 1000mls of Hartmann's running open as we speak.
"Do you have another medic with you Swain?" the Dr Lee asks
"Yes sir, our second medic is here." Swain replies
"Good, now I want him to push that fluid thru ASAP then run a 500ml bottle of 4 Albumen, we need to boost her blood volume. Do you have an approximate weight for the patient." Dr Lee questions
"Ahhh roughly 60kg's" Swain guesses.
"Right! Now as the other medic is doing that I want you to listen to her chest, does she have equal air entry" Dr Lee asks
Swain grabs the stethoscope from the table and listens to Kate's chest. There is much greater air movement on the right side then the left and no sound at all in the upper left chest which he passes on to Dr Lee.
"Ok!" Dr Lee replies. "I want you to place her head in a neutral position and look at her trachea. Does it seem to run down the centre of her throat?"
Swain does as asked and notices that in fact the X's trachea is pushing over to the right. He looks up at the CO in alarm and says to Dr Lee "Aaah, no sir, it is deviating to the right"
"Damn", Dr Lee replies. "It sounds as though she has a tension pneumothorax. How far are you from base?"
"About 2 hours" the CO replied
"Bugger! Swain do you have the equipment to put in a chest drain? Dr Lee asks
"No sir, we aren't equipped for that" Swain says in a panic
"Ok then, well you're going to have to do a needle thoracostomy to relieve the pressure"
"DO WHAT" Swain, Cheffo and Mike shout in alarm.
"Stay calm gentlemen that's really important. Ok" Dr Lee says in a reassuring voice.
"Yes sir" the three reply.
"Now I want you to cut away the XO's clothing to see the wound and you need access to her chest.
"Yes sir" Cheffo does as asked though becomes somewhat bashful when he goes to cut the strap of the X's bra.
"Just do it Cheffo" Mike orders calmly, looking up at him before returning his attention back to Kate's pale face.
"Good" Dr Lee replies "Now Swain, you need to locate the second intercostal space by feeling for the second and third ribs, remember the clavicle is one and count from there"
"Right" Swain replies running his hands down Kate's chest to locate the spot. "I've found it Doc, it's a good thing that the XO's so slim", he exclaims.
Mike glances up from Kate's face and glares at him
"Sorry Sir" Swain mumbles.
"Good work, now note that spot and then draw a line from the middle of the clavicle to that intercostals space. That is where you will need to insert the needle."
"Ok, I have it sir" Swain replies nervously
"Take the betadine out of your kit to clean her skin and once you've done that, go and wash your hands and put on some sterile gloves." Dr Lee instructs
"Ready Sir"
"Now I want you to take a 16 gauge cannula and insert it into the second intercostal space at a 90º to the chest wall nice and slowly. As you go through the layers of tissue into the plural space you should feel a pop, and as soon as you do stop ok".
Swain looks down at the X and mutters a quiet "I'm sorry about this Mam" looks up at the CO who nods his head and Cheffo who shrugs his shoulder and does as instructed with a somewhat shaky hand. As he inserts the needle about 2½ cm's he feel's a sudden pop.
"I felt the pop Doc" he exclaims somewhat excited and relieved as he takes a deep breath"
"Good work Swain", Dr Lee says. "Now you need to advance the catheter tip a bit and then remove the needle without pulling out the catheter and as you do you should feel and hear a sudden rush of air.
As swain removes the needle he feels the sudden rush of air coming out the end of the catheter. He sighs in relief
"It's worked sir I can feel the air coming out"
"That's great work Swain, now you need to secure the catheter so it doesn't come out and secure a Heimlic valve to the end of the catheter to stop backflow. Keep a close eye on it and her Swain you don't want it to kink off and they can easily block and cause problems and she can end up in the same situation all over again. How far from base are you now? Dr Lee questions as Swain fixes the catheter.
"Roughly 90mins Doc" the CO replies.
"What are her obs like now?" Dr Lee questions
"A bit better, Resp rate 28 and effort seems to be a bit easier and the left side of her chest is moving a little better, Oxygen Sats are 93 in 10litres, Heart rate 125 and BP 93/55" Cheffo says with obvious relief
"How's the bleeding from the wound going." Dr Lee asks
"It's settled sir, just small oozing now" Swain says
"Is the Albumen through" Dr Lee asks.
"About 100 mls still to go Sir" Cheffo informs him "Do you want me to hang another bottle once it's done"?
"No put up another Hartmann's bag to run at about 200mls per hour, we don't want to give her too much fluid."
"That was good work gentlemen, your XO's not out of the woods yet, what she needs is an operating theatre and a proper chest drain. You need to get her back to base ASAP" Dr Lee informs them
"Will do Doc". Mike replies
"Ill inform our trauma surgeon and put the OR on standby awaiting your return to base. Keep me posted of her condition every 10 minuets and contact me immediately if there is the slightest change in her status" Dr Lee instructs
"Yes Sir" Swain and Cheffo say in unison
"Fleet Medical out" Dr Lee's voice rings off.
The three men all look at each other and all give a simultaneous sigh of relief.
"Good work Swain!" Mike commends. "You to Cheffo."
"We still have to get her home yet sir." Swain replies hesitantly
"That's true but without your good work I don't think she would have made it this far" the CO says quietly as his gaze fixes upon the XO.
Mike continues to stare at Kate for a while, as both Swain and Cheffo continue to monitor her. He looks at her face, her left cheek is smeared with blood, and her eyelashes ebony against her pale skin with no hint of the usual colour in her cheeks. He reaches out a hand to stroke her cheek. So soft! Mike bows his head and closes his eyes and thinks back on all those times five years previously, when he used to wake up before her to just watch her sleep then rouse her from her dreams with a soft caress to her cheek just as he was doing now. He opened his eyes and looked up to see if it had worked, but Kate's remain the same.
Mike never was an overly religious person however in that moment he bent his head and prayed to which ever Deity listening to protect his Katie and to help them get home in time for she had to be ok. She was his XO, his second in command, the only other person he trusted with control of his ship and therefore the lives of all his crew. After 5 years apart he really couldn't imagine anyone else doing that job, for in the past six months Kate had managed to wrangle her way into the close knit crew and was genuinely liked by all. Mike however always felt that the bridge seemed to be missing something when she wasn't on duty, and he always felt ill at ease when she was commanding a boarding party, counting the seconds till she radio's through that all is contained then waiting on baited breath till she is safely back on the Hammersley. He loved arguing with her, how her frustration and anger brings out the green in her beautiful eyes and how she sticks out her chin when she is making a point. How he loved listening to her voice, soft and smooth, but strong and confidant when necessary. He loved her smile, how it could light up a room and the special one she has just for him when they share a private joke. He loved… He loved……. "Wow" Mike though his head still bent, He loved Kate. More that that, he was IN love with Kate, pure and simple
Just then the sound of someone tripping and a loud long beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep rang out as Mikes head flew up to look at the monitor which was recording Kate's vial signs and the ECG trace showed a flat line.
"NO!" Mike cries in anguish. "Katie please don't leave me"
Tehehehehehe I love cliff hangers. This is my first attempt at writing Sea Patrol so please let me know what you think, though do be nice . Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Ciao for Now
Anka