Disruptor Bolts and Phasers do not play nice
Posted on Thu Apr 2nd, 2026 @ 6:36am by Ensign Mirakylin Yumerieva & Rear Admiral Loatha Targaryen & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Zhora zh'Roothi & Lieutenant Rio Kholin MD
4,498 words; about a 22 minute read
Mission:
Short Treks
Location: USS Enterprise: Deck 8: Primary Medical Complex: Emergeny Ward
Timeline: 2439-08-13, 10:56
Ensign Mira Yumerieva materialized in the Enterprise's Emergency Ward in the Primary Medical Complex on Deck 8. She had been putting some weight on Commander Datari so she would not be doing anything other than resting her wounded right side. However, with that support gone, she had to catch herself and thus she spasmed from the pain and tried to find anything near her to land on her tush. She found herself not hitting the floor, but finding a biobed under her. Still, that exercised her lower right side that had some of the musculature burned away to where the tip edge of her pelvis was seen, and it had a crack from the concussive blast of the stun phaser being shattered by the disrupter bolt. That the bolt had not continued on was the result of the phaser being in the way.
The crack had formed due to stresses from a titanium pellet of 00 buck shot stuck into her right pelvic blade that had been fired into her derriere when she was five and a half years old by her father, a lessen to teach his kids to be silent when injured. Silence met continued living, crying out meant found and killed by the Valoran Warrior Zealots.
So far, for treatment, the Medic on the Romulan Vessel had applied a hypo to speed up healing as well as pain relief, while also doing a topical fixicant to help prevent any further tearing and reduce the chance of infection.
Of course, unknown as of yet, was that Mira had some minor internal injuries to her right kidney, large intestine, and a little to her liver. Her internal arrangement was pretty much like a Terran, only less density bones but yet having not heavier, but stronger muscles. Mira, having practiced, could jump 4.5 meters high and a distance of 16 meters with a running start. Her conditioning of her side muscles and core muscles is what helped to prevent a hole through them so as to keep her abdominal cavity intact. She once more grabbed her left leg, her right leg out and curled to keep the right side relaxed as much as possible, and waited to be noticed by any medical personnel.
On Level 8, in the Main Sickbay, the CMO was watching transporter lights flashing as the half-curled form of Ensign Yumerieva was being reconstructed onto the central biobed in the standard semi-circle of smaller but not so dissimilar biobeds that were positioned around Ward 1. As soon as the tiny blue lights of the transporter field dimmed and eventually vanished, it was very clear that the Ensign had sustained some very serious injuries and Rio Kholin leaped forward to steady her form and help her balance. She was protecting her right side and had her right leg outstretched but it was also very obvious that she had sustained deep and worrying burns and apparent concussive injuries to her side and hip, on first look.
Rio's fingers flew over the control pad of LCARS and brought up privacy screen/opaque forcefield around the patient and spoke to her gently. "Are you in pain, Ensign?" she asked, the remnants of the right side of Mira's uniform having been disintegrated, her rank was only visible from the left hand side. In this manner the CMO was able to immediately tell how to address her new patient on first approach. "Have you had any analgesic?....... pain killers?" she continued, anxious to get some into a hypospray if not already administered or perhaps about to wear off if given a good while ago.
Mira was slowly breathing as she was checked over by the medic assigned to her care. She focused onto her holding her left knee so as to remain conscious and ignore the pain as much as possible. She managed to take shallow breaths in order to answer the Doctor so as to not do a deep inhale and cause more pain. "There is pain.... manageable... Romulan Medic... gave me pain killer... short while ago.... put on spray... to help prevent... infection and... further tearing."
Her attention remained fixated on her left knee in front of her, however, a niggly entered her mind... 'bio-bed?'. She reached down with her left hand to feel, then turned her head to look at Rio. "May I lay down... Lieutenant Doctor?... Less pain when on... uninjured left side... allow right side... to be up for you..."
"yes, of course, please do." Rio opened her arm out in confirmation. Once Mira was lying on her side with her injuries upwards, it was much easier for scans and assessments to be run. The CMO raised the Medi-Arch over her patient and began to set it up with a schedule of tests and scans to find out what, if any, internal injuries were awaiting underneath all this carnage on the surface, what was left of the surface, of the Ensign's hip. When Rio had trained, Med-arches were just what the label said - arches that could be raised in two halves, joining in the centre above the prone patient. Progress had developed a newer "shell-like" construction that did similar and improved work but the name "medi-Arch" had stuck. The shell shaped apparatus began to scan and scope Mira's injuries and looking at them, both in what remained of the flesh and on the screens as well, Rio had to suppress an internal shudder of empathy. She couldn't imagine how the plucky Ensign was still conscious, let alone refraining from screaming in pain.
Given that the Romulan Medic had administered pain killer, seemingly by hypospray if Mira's description was anything to go by, it was still so serious a mangling of the poor girl's body that it genuinely gave Rio a bit of a mind-boggle. "I'm so happy that the pain is tolerable for you, Mira, is it okay to call you that, Ensign?"
Mira smiled to herself as she lay there, just gently breathing and relaxing as the bio-bed base adjusted to give her support being on her side. She replied, "Yes, Doctor.... I like being called.... Mira."
"But" Rio went on gently. "There is a very large amount of damage here. You look like you've been bombed in a very close up attack and there's not only disruptor type burns but also what looks like a weapon went off right beside you. I can fix it." she reassured Mira. "A lot of regeneration sessions but should be good as new, as indeed I hope you yourself will feel but we will have to get to work at once, if you're okay with that? The sooner we start, the less danger there will be of infection. The spray the Romulan Medic gave you will wear off and now I must admit you to surgery for the next stage. Do I have your permission for that plan of action?
Confusion could be seen on Mira's face if anybody was looking at it. The Ratenoid Alekian wasn't sure why the Doctor was asking her that as the Doctor knew best. Still, if she needed permission, of course Mira would give it. "Yes, please do.... I am the one who.... had a stun phaser... explode at my side... after a disrupter bolt... hit it... Sorry I cannot be.... of more service to.... how I feel... The pain of my side... and a deep ache.... from my hip.... is overriding... everything else...." Mira breathed for a short bit, then asked, "How long for... Shock protocol.... Do I need to... remain awake?"
~shock proto.....~ Rio's mind suddenly realized what the youngster was doing. "Oh, no, don't worry about all that. You don't need to suffer any longer, which is what I presume you're doing.... you're one of the bravest young women I have met in my life. I don't know any average person who would even still be even conscious right now with what you're going through let alone lucid and stoic! No, no, I don't need you to observe shock protocol my friend. I'm planning to take you straight to surgery as soon as your kidney, liver, heart and blood results are automatically logged into the main medical files - say about another minute I would guess. I can stop all your pain completely in Theatre and you'll wake up with lots of your injuries repaired, lots of the damage reconstructed and with only the minimum of healing left to be topped up from then on." she told Mira. "All you should be facing after that is some tiresome physiotherapy and some lovely counseling and relaxing!" the CMO smiled widely and administered a hypospray that melted everything inside Mira's mind into temporary oblivion as she then had her moved to the Operating Suite and went off to prep herself as well while the nurses set up things for Mira during her total unawareness.
.....
The medical scans revealed concussive blast trauma to her right kidney, the large intestine flowing upwards through that area, and the right side of her liver. That was all manageable and heal-able. The muscle tissue was in layers, a large area missing most outwards, then smaller in the next, smaller in the next, the rest of the layers intact. Of course, the skin and fur in that area had been burned off.
The unusual ping of warning, though, was finding a 00 buckshot pellet made of Titanium embedded into the backside of the right pelvic bone, and it was from that object a stress crack ran from and up to the tip of the exposed pelvic bone. That pellet had created stresses in her right pelvic bone, and then the concussive blast had cause those stresses to crack the pelvis in that area as well as causing the ligament attached there to un-attach. That particular ligament with its bunched up muscle could be seen in the upper left of the burn area, waiting to be stretched across and reattached once the pellet was removed and the pelvic bone healed. Why it was there was unknown.
.....
11:17 am, 1117 hours
The surgery was ongoing to repair Mira's side as well as remove the titanium 00 pellet from her right pelvic blade when Zhora arrived in sick bay.
Following her conversation with Bernadotte Commander zh'Roothi had arrived in sickbay to check in on the injured Ensign and to receive treatment of her own following the scuffle with the Klingon security.
A nurse came over, Ensign Terrahd-Fenya, a Grazerite female, who asked, "Good morning, Executive Officer Commander zh'Rhoothi, how may I help you?" (FYI: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Grazerite )
The Andorain paused blinking with thought having lost track of time throughout the turbulant events and pondered if she'd taken a blow to the head during the violence. Giving herself a mental shake zh'Roothi returned to the topic in hand: "I came to check in on Ensign Yumerieva," she replied.
Terrahd-Fenya went to the main monitoring station and checked. As zh'Roothi was the XO, and thus commissioned officers liason, she shared about the injuries. Only Counselor notes on patients were considered taboo and not shareable. She answered, "Ensign Yumerieva is in surgery at this time. Her injuries are several layers of muscle along her right side just above her hip were burned away, concussive injuries to her liver, kidney, and large intestine on the right side. Also... hmm, that is weird. There is an unusual sized titanium pellet embedded into her right pelvic plate, which caused a stress crack up to where a transverse muscle had been attached."
A frown creased the Commander's brow and her antenna wiggled with concern at the discovery feeling certain the titanium contaminate did not originate on the station.
The Nurse looked up to zh'Roothi, "The surgery will be removing that pellet, healing the pelvic blade, regenerating the layers while reattaching the transverse muscle at the appropriate time, then the skin. The healing energy field will take care of the concussive damage inside. I would say it will be about two hours. It isn't hard work, but it is tedious." She smiled, but then looked at a computer note, then she said out loud, "What is shotgun 00 buck shot?"
"Sounds like ammunition from a projectile weapon," zh'Roothi pouted with thought. "Definitely not a typical weapon choice by the Klingon. Regardless of the how or why I am relieved Mira will make a full recovery."
Terrahd-Fenya gently giggled a the 'weapon choice' comment, then went back to counter manner. "She will. Please, come back in 2 hours to visit."
"I'll do that," the XO nodded. "In the meanwhile I'm in need of some treatment or my own. Now the adrenaline has worn off things ache more than they should," she explained.
With a polite nod, Terrahd-Fenya moved her hand to show the way to one of the biobeds used for triage in the main area. "Please, this way." After the XO was laying down, she did a scan, then activated the healing fields. "Nothing major is wrong, XO, just extra strains to your body. Rest here for 30 minutes and the healing fields will take care of mostly everything. The rest of the strains will heal over the next day, which is best for the body as it knows itself."
"Thank you," Zhora replied with a weary tone and allowed herself to settle for the fields to work.
* * * * * * * *
After the lengthy and complicated surgery, Rio moved her patient from the main surgery theatre itself to the Recovery Ward where she had installed the Ensign and raised the Med-bed 'shell' to deliver light forcefields all around her for protection from any occurrence of infection or contamination. These were not opaque nor soundproofed so it was possible for anyone to visit safely and for them also to be heard by Mira once she finally regained consciousness and was well enough. Rio checked on her at very short intervals at first and then gradually allowed the nursing staff to check on her and report anything no matter how small, that might change.
Mira had been through, a lot, and so she slept another hour past the surgery before waking up. She opened her eyes, expecting to still be examined by Doc Rio, however, she was laying on her back and in a hospital gown for privacy. She swallowed her spittle and realized she was thirsty. She coughed, then flinched expecting waves of pain.. but, there was no waves of pain. Just a gentle throbbing from around the area where the layers of her muscle had been burned away. She reached a hand down and found skin, albeit without fur, and then there was a face in front of her face. She jumped, then asked, "Surgery done? Everything.. okay?".
"Hi Mira, welcome back, how are you feeling? Are you in any pain?" Rio had been checking on Mira and was just a little closer than she would normally have been due to leaning in to adjust the settings of her patient's head support. The CMO smiled at Mira softly and stood back a little to give her room to look around and familiarize herself as she was 'coming round'.
Mira at first looked confused at the 'welcome back', but then her previous blurted question came to the fore and she realized, yes, the surgery was completed, as confirmed by the growing realization that there was skin and not muscle tissue being felt. Her entire body once more relaxed as she answered, "Nothing like before... just a light throbbing around the area... no pain from the area... I think just the outer parts remembering the loss of the layers." She smiled to Rio and asked, "Doc Rio, can I have a drink?"
"Of course!" Rio replied and fetched a small cup of water. "Here you go, try to sip it at first until your thirst is better, your throat may feel dry, perhaps your mouth as well but you've been kept hydrated by intravenous hypo interventions so you shouldn't need to put too much into your stomach for a few minutes yet."
After Mira had sipped a little of the cool water, Rio helped her to place the cup on the side for later. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to recreate your fur layers yet. I was concentrating on getting the ligaments and muscles rebuilt, the bones reconstructed and the flesh in place so I thought we should manage with just skin for now and then do the more complicated work of reconstructing fur after we can check and be sure that the underlying, deep layers are all correct, functioning and pain free. I hope that's okay with you?"
Mira giggled lightly as after the water, she was feeling better. She answered, "Two hundred percent okay, Doc. I am very happy my side is back to intact and that nasty crack in my hip bone is no more. The fur, it will grow back. As a child, I have had many a time of fur scraped off due to misadventures." She sighed in thought, then she asked, "While I have had sprains, twists, dislocations, and even buckshot fired into my backside by my Dad, I don't remember ever having had a bone break or crack. Was the concussive blast at my side just that powerful to do so?"
"Buckshot fired into your backside by your dad?" Rio repeated incredulously. For the moment of her confoundment, she initially failed to answer the question in the end of what Mira had also said. "How could that have happened? I assume it had to have been an accident?" she asked.
Mira laughed politely behind her hand. She answered, "Oh, no, no accident. You see, to make noise is death, to be silent is life. If you made a sound, the Valoran Royal Guards will find you and kill you. So.. since I could remember, my limbs and hair yanked, limbs twisted, and at five and a half, my father fired buckshot into all of us kids backsides making sure we would remain silent through pain and surprise. Of course, he used titanium buck shot and not lead so if a pellet was missed being removed, it wouldn't harm our bodies. You wondered how I could remain silent through the pain... I had to.. crying out means death, silence means life."
"Wow" Rio replied, taken aback. "Well, I see! That explains the titanium remnant that I took out of your injured right pelvic bone then. I was puzzling over how that had been part of the explosion of the disruptor and your damage. That clears it up and I can make a note of the history of that." she said, her voice flat and giving away nothing of the shock that piece of information had given her. ~Surely.....~ she had begun to think but then stopped herself and 'filed' it mentally. A person could never know what was needed in a situation that they had never personally experienced. Even if they imagined how they might have reacted - they had to have been there. Rio had found that out the hard way.
Mira perked up, looking at Rio with delight. "You found a titanium pellet in my pelvic bone? Did you save it? Can I have it? I mean, my dad loaded that round for us kids.. and as he is long dead.. it would be a neat souvenir to remember him by. *giggle* Plus how I got it makes a great story, right Doc?"
From near by a quiet "Ahem..." Announced the presence of Commander Randall. "Is it visiting hours yet?" She asked, from near the door.
Mira heard the voice and recognized who it was. She called out, "Commander Randall, Hi, yeah, surgery is done. I have a fully intact side once more." She glanced at Rio, then added, "but, Doc Rio has the final say. So, can she visit?" Mira picked up another nearby through her whiskers denoting more air currents as well as hearing slight movement outside the private ward, where the door was held open by Commander Randall. She added, "I sense another nearby... may I receive visitors, Doc Rio?"
"Yes, of course you may but promise me that if you start to feel tired you will ask everyone to leave and then agree to rest?" Rio replied, unable to contain a smile at the enthusiasm of the happy little Ensign and her fortitude and courage. The CMO finished off inputting the bio-chart with a last update and stepped back. "Come in Commander" she invited the visitor in and slipped quietly away to let them talk.
Mira nodded to Rio as she replied, "Yes Sir, I will." She now looked expectantly at her Division Officer.
Ash nodded a thank you to Rio as she came in, the small felinoid hiding something behind her back that had garish, orange, yellow, red and black stripes. It was difficult to make out what it was, but it was fairly large, much too large for the small Chief Engineer to effectively conceal.
"Thank you, doctor. I promise not to be too long." Ash said as she approached Mira's side.
Mira smiled as Ash approached. She nodded her head in greeting to the CEO and said, "Hey Commander Randall, glad to see you." She now quizzically tilted her head as she focused on the thing Ash was carrying behind her back. A possible gift was the furthest thing from her mind, thus Mira asked, "So, something to hand off to sickbay as you visit?"
"Oh, this?" Ash asked, as she brought out what, had to be, the ugliest, gaudiest, most ridiculous looking, plushy spider imaginable. "This is for you." She replied. "It's a barking spider." She added, with a toothy grin. "A very rare species with a distinctive call." She continued as she offered the, large, plushy to Mira. It was hideous, with a football sized, striped, body, long, striped legs, and a bulbous, head nearly as big as its body with two oversized eyes, six small eyes and a large tongue protruding from an un-spider-like, mouth in a permanent raspberry. "They love to be hugged." She finished.
Mira smelled when Ash brought the 'spider?' around from behind her back. It wasn't real... it smelled of.. a stuffed object? Like her stuffed tarthanian, her companion fox squirrel from time she could remember.. she looked at the garish creature, then, her smile widened very big. People thought fox squirrels were just intelligent rodents and to be despised, so, why not have this barking spider join with Talitha in her quarters. She cooed towards the critter, then reached for her, saying, "She is so fugly to be adorable.. I love her." She grabbed her to be above her head, saying, "You are Tanitha, room mate to Talitha, my Tarthanian stuffy friend." She grabbed her into a hug, saying, "Welcome to the ..." and a large, fast farting noise was heard.
Mira froze, her mind at first trying to figure out what happened, and then she began trembling as her voice came out in a low, shuddering tone, "Oh no... Oh no.. Commander Randall.. I think I hurt her... can you... verify... she is okay?"
Ash blinked a few times before answering. "Tanitha is fine." She replied, in a reassuring tone. "That's just the sound she makes...the distinctive call of a Barking Spider." She added, and to her credit, kept a straight face where most might have burst into hysterical laughter. When very young, someone had tried to run Ash down with a hover car and, had been gifted a similar 'Barking Spider' during her recovery and she had reacted, in a similar manner, when it 'barked' the first time she squeezed it.
Mira's body began calming down as she thought about what Ash had said. This time, she listened closely as she released her tight hug and heard the air going back into the Barking Spider. She now gently squeezed and heard as well as felt the air fighting a membrane within, that membrane releasing in stutters. She let the air back in, then, at a cadence of squeezing, now the full fart effect over time was heard. Mira giggled at the effect as the noise was fully understood as a 'fart'. She laughed gently as she asked Ash, "So, farting spider. Talitha makes no noises as to make noise is to become dead, so this is rather fun." She did a couple of quick squeezes, then turned to Ash with a questioning look, "So, why is it called Barking instead of Farting?"
Ash smiled at the question from Mira. "The very question I asked, once upon a time..." She replied, in preamble to an answer. "...A barking spider is a mythical creature attributed to the occasional 'toot' in polite company that is, generally, invoked, or blamed, for the toot not by the tooter but another within ear shot. It is an attempt at levity in a situation that, for most, in the culture it originates from, would be a mortifying embarrassment." Ash explained. "It is cathartic, in a way." She added.
Mira followed along, translating within her mind about 'toot', 'tooter', embarrassment.. then she burst out a chortle. "Okay, for those who fart loud, that fart is attributed to the mythological 'Barking Spider' as the toot becomes the bark of the critter so that others don't have to focus on the originator, but the mythology." She gave Tanitha a quick squeeze, then giggled again, "Except, I can surely state the toot is from my Barking Spider." She giggled a little, then added with a mirthful voice, "We Heretic Alekians don't make farting noises when we pass gas, to make noise kills you. Sorry for taking a bit to understand.. I had to think about what I have heard from others."
"No longer than I did. I was a 'pet' aboard an Orion Slaver when I was verry, very young...It took time to 'adjust' to Federation ways and that critter was quite baffling...an Orion passes gas, a thunderous rumble, and delights in asphyxiating, anyone, close enough to catch a whiff." Ash related, with a little laugh. "On your part, I am not familiar enough with your culture to fully appreciate what being a heretic is, unfortunately." She admitted.
Mira sighed in sympathy at hearing what happened to Ash by the Orion. "I am sorry to hear you suffered that, Ash. Being a heretic is similar... we did not worship the ruler, but the Creator of the Universe, and thus, we were worthy of Death. So, yeah, I watched my family taken out by the Valoran Elite Guards. You really don't want to be a heretic." She yawned, then whispered, "Sorry."
"Oh, that's all right." Ash replied. "I'll let you get some rest." The Chief Engineer added as she turned to leave.
Mira nodded, thankful her department Chief realized she needed a nap now. She called out, "Thank you, Ash... thank you." She settled down into the bed and quickly dropped to sleep.
TBC:
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