Chapter 14 another Trial by Fire
It took mere minutes to reach the loading bay and then they were met by the doctor and Captain Grayson.
"What do we have?" Dana asked Marie as she moved to pace the stretcher as Brian was carrying the Glucose bag.
"Probable Concussion, there doesn't seem to be any internal bleeding or broken bones." Marie told her adding. "There may be some smoke inhalation."
"Ok, let's get her inside."
"Right." Marie replied and they were hurrying.
***
"Brian." Captain Grayson called to the leader of the team as Marie shut the doors to the medical bay.
"Yes Sir?" The young fire fighter asked.
"Come with me." Captain Grayson told him and Brian cast an uncertain look to where Ryan was scowling at the others.
"Sir shouldn't I wait with them?" Brian asked and captain Grayson glanced towards the doors behind which Dana had taken the fallen yellow ranger.
"It will be a while before we know anything." He assured the younger man and after another minute's hesitation Brian nodded and followed him from the room.
***
"What I want to know is what she was thinking." Ryan demanded as he glared at the remaining four rangers. They were all sitting in the conference room
in the back of rescue ops, as the sickbay didn't have a waiting area.
"Sir I'm not sure."
"Well, you're her team; you'll have to learn to know how she thinks. That's one of your jobs. It's the only way to stop things like this from happening
every five minutes." Captain Mitchell said grimly.
"Ryan they've only been at this a day." Mrs. Rawlings tried to calm the captain down. She knew that this wouldn't do any of them any good.
"I know but look what's already happened. Maybe we shouldn't have done this." Captain Mitchell said running a hand through his hair in frustration. Ryan
just couldn't believe that Kelsey's replacement could be this reckless.
***
"Sir?" Brian asked when he and Captain Grayson the older man's office, which had once been the original captain Mitchell's office.
"I know what your thinking." captain Grayson said motioning the younger man into a seat.
"You do?" Brian asked surprised as he sank into the chair offered.
"You think that what happened out there was your fault." captain Grayson captain Grayson said knowingly.
"Sir?" Brian asked waiting for his boss's next words.
"I've been there. I once had to choose between putting out a fire or saving a child." Captain Grayson said and from a folder he pulled out the file on
his hardest case.
"You had to put out the canisters." Brian said after scanning the file.
"Yes, just as you did what had to be done? What Hollie did herself was not something you could have prevented. Believe me, Kelsey, her predecessor was
just like Hollie, in fact, Kel chose her for that reason." Captain Grayson smiled remembering how Kelsey had been afraid she'd not be crazy enough to
fill her shoes.
"What are you saying?" Brian asked frowning.
"He is saying that blaming yourself won't help anyone." Joel told the younger man.
"'But…" Brian began but captain Grayson shook his head.
"Brian, you are the leader of the team but that doesn't mean your responsible for her every action. Your job is to never eave anyone behind." Captain
Grayson said adding. "Did you leave anyone behind?"
"No."
"Did you take care of your team mate when things got bad?" Joel asked and Brian nodded.
"Yes but…" Brian broke in again.
"Did you give over command to someone who knew more in the situation when it was time?" Captain Grayson asked and Brian thought a minute.
"Yes." He said thoughtfully.
"Then you are a good leader." captain Grayson told him thinking of all of the times he'd let one of the others have lead on a mission. "Being one is not
determined by if you're always in control but for doing what you need to do." Captain Grayson said and after a long minute of silence Brian's eyes went
over to where Joel leaned against a wall.
"Is there any news?" Brian asked the green clad young man.
"Yes, she's going to be fine, Doc just wants her to stay for observation." He told the boy.
"Can we see her?" Brian asked anxiously.
"Yes, go on." Joel told the new red ranger. "Well?" The sky cowboy asked when he and his old friend were again alone.
"I think he'll be ok." Carter told him and Joel nodded.
"Yeah, how's Marie?" Carter asked and Joel shrugged.
"Tired." Joel told him and Carter nodded.
"Makes sense." Carter said and headed for the door.
"Yeah, talk about trial by fire." Joel shook his head.
"Hey I've already been through that." Carter said and Joel laughed at the old joke as they headed back towards the medical bay.
TBC
***
Well, what do you think? Are the new team living up to their predecessors reputations?Do you think I should do a part not just Ryan's story but for Brian/
I'm not sure, it might be too predictable. In any event PLZ R&R and let me know what you think.