Bowling?

Posted on Tue Nov 12th, 2019 @ 1:29am by Commander Sherwin Porter & Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Commander Victoria Rigby M.D. & Petty Officer 2nd Class Corvus Hannah
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:11pm

5,201 words; about a 26 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Various
Timeline: 2429-12-03, 19:30

[Corridor]

Vikki had her eyes closed as she moved along the corridor on the way to the bridge. The music still played through her head as all attempts to just switch it off seemed to fail. She’d tried listening to other music; country, rock, pop...even damn Klingon opera but nothing seemed to work. On one hand it wasn't affecting her day to day life but on the other it was becoming a nuisence.

“For crying out lo...” The councillors angry words were cut off as she came to sudden stop as she ran into a solid form that resulting in the breath being knocked from her.

"Oh crap!" Hannah said, surveying the mess on the deck and then the rank pips on the blue collar. He didn't know her, but blue marked Medical, the same color he was technically under, which meant an officer in his department and, in his rush, he'd failed to pay attention and nearly knocked her to the deck. "I mean, not crap but..." he trailed off, hastily bending to pick up the phaser rifle and sidearm, still holstered in the duty belt, that he'd been carrying as he hurried along. "Uhm...well...deficate would be more polite, I guess?"

He saw two PaDDs on the deck and dropped his other gear to pick them both up. One would be his, he knew that because it was what he was staring at when he ran into the officer, the other must be hers. But which was which? Both had blank screens and what if she had something private up on hers and he activated the wrong one to know which was his?

It took Vikki a few moments more to grasp her bearings; the music in her head still playing as she fought to seperate the tune from the words being spoken to her from her perch on the floor. “It’s o...” The counsellors words trailed off as she processed the fact that amongst the PADDs the man also seems to have lost some weapons. “What the hell? Why on earth would you need to be walking around armed on the ship?!? What if one of those weapons had gone off?!?”

"They're, uhm, they're," he said, standing up a bit stiffer and straighter - it wasn't at attention because he wasn't sure he could be dressed down with an officer sitting on the deck but..."they're on safety and the computer keeps them deactivated until I get to the range," he almost stammered. "I'm very safe handling weapons," he said lamely. Who was she? Was she the CMO? Was this how he met his new medical chief?

Then, after much too long, he realized he'd knocked her over and held out a hand to help her up. It was, after all, the least he could do at the moment. And would keep him out of some trouble should his mother find out about t his incident. Not that she should ever...but...she was a mother. They knew.

Vikki glanced at the weapons before glancing back at the officer, the instinct to tell him where to shove it wasn’t easily surpressed but the counsellor was rational enough to recognise her mental state was stressed from the music in her head and it wasn’t altogether fair to take it out an another.

Taking the offered hand, the woman braved herself, “Your new to this aren’t you? First rule is always to never trust a computer. A computer should would and could but you can never know for certain.”

Hannah checked his sigh as he helped the woman to her feet. One thing he learned very quickly once he became a combat medic was that most in Starfleet knew very little in the way of weapons. Sure, they might go to the holodeck, or participate in some qualifications but their knowledge rarely ever extended past the "point this end here and push this button there" phase of weapons use.

As a member of a tactical unit, and someone who had to be every bit as good and knowledgeable about the weapons he used as those with whom he served (up to this point it was mostly Marines) he knew better. But, considering his current situation, he felt it better to forego his usual attempts at education. "Yes, Commander," he said, instead, releasing her hand as soon as she was on her feet and steady.

He bent to regain his dropped items, just waiting for the next part of the outburst. She was a Lt. Commander after all and seemed to be in an unpleasant mood. Whatever came of this, he just had to take graciously and try to find a way to fit all his responsibilities around her punishment. Though, he was starting to reconsider the offer to switch to gamma shift for a few weeks that one of the other corpsman asked about. It would alleviate the exposure he might have to this officer.

Regaining his weapons, he shouldered the rifle by it's sling, and stuck the sidearm under his arm, hoping that would mollify the officer regarding it's 'safety'. He wished he'd brought his pack this time. If he had the sidearm inside and the rifle secured to it, as he'd been taught, he'd not have to worry about any part of this.

Then, he simply waited to hear his newly ornerous fate.

“Yes Commander? Is that all that you have to say for yourself?” Vikki felt the irritation grow as her hand moved to try and massage her forehead, closing her eyes as the surge of emotion intermingled with whatever else was happening and nearly cause her knees to buckle out from under her.

Instead the woman grabbed the closest thing to her in order to stay on her feet which happened to be the butt of the riffle. “Federation or marine or whatever you all think the same way; that your better than the rest of us. Sure what would a counsellor know if weapons? I bet that’s what you are thinking!”

Hannah was about to try to defend himself when the rifle was grabbed. Training kicked in and conflicted with what he was starting to see of her condition. He grabbed her under the arm, and instead of taking her down as he was taught, he used his own weight and strength as support. "Okay," he said, "over here and sit down."

He guided her toward the wall and the deference from earlier, as well as the meek reticence, was now gone. Her visual condition had activated "medic mode" and in medic mode he'd learned to be in charge. Especially when dealing with Marine officers who avoided medical scans like a plague brought by Death herself.

For the second time he regretted leaving his pack behind. He had his diagnostic glove in the pack and only a standard handheld tricorder in his pocket. He wasn't at all fond of the standard tricorder. So bulky and required both hands, and eyes, to work. But, in the pinch it was better than nothing.

Setting her against the wall and making she sure sat before she fell, he fished it out of his pocket and retrieved the diagnostic cylinder. "How long have you had the headache?" he asked, watching her brain scans light up like festival lights. Obviously part of her brain was highly stimulated and overactive. A headache was so easily cured these days that to have one meant something seriously wrong was going on and so why hadn't she had it checked in Medical?

"Looks like you've won a trip to a biobed, Commander," he said, looking around. A ship this size and there should be others, but he just realized that not many people had come by since the beginning of their encounter. He took a deep breath then tapped his badge. "Hannah to Medical, emergency transport by two my location directly to Medical."

He waited for the acknolwedgment then the slight tingle that indicated quantum entanglement and the 'beam out' from where they were to Medical.

Vikki wasn’t quite certain what was happening as it went by so quick. She remembering the rifle being disentangled from her grip and the support being replaced by the man himself. She’d barely had time to speak before the transporter gripped them both and deposited them both into sickbay.

[Medical]

“What the hell...” Medical staff were coming running as the headache intensified as the anger she felt rapidly increased. “What the hell do you think you are doing...you...you...you big brute!”

The counselor pushed hard against the arm of the marine but the action only served to nearly put them both off balance as she fell into Hannah and tried to get her bearings back. “What kind of reckless stunt are you trying to play!”

At this point he ignored her rantings, probably the result of some sort of brain injury or illness. Instead, he grabbed her and lifted her, carrying her the last few yards to the nearest bio bed. He set her on it before stepping back. "Computer," he said, hoping his authorization codes transferred to the ship's medical department as he checked in for duty, "activate restraint field."

Once again Vikki was rendered speechless as like a rag doll he carried her before encasing her in a shield. “What the hell?!? No! Stop!” She’d have hit against the field if she’d not known the result would get her nowhere. Instead she was restrained on the bed flat, only able to tilt her head to look straight at the marine. “I swear to god...when I find out who the hell your superior!”

"What happened to her?" the nurse asked, running up to begin running diagnostic scans.

"I don't know, really, I accidentally knocked her down in the corridor. She yelled at me then gave indication of altered status, nearly collapsed. A tricorder scan shows some sort of altered brain mechanism mostly in her cerebellum and auditory cortexes." Which was...unusually odd to say the least. "Her pain receptors are also overactive, indicating physical pain." There was something else, as well, but, for now, he'd keep that to himself. He spoke in answer to a nurse who was attempting to get information. The bed scanners closed over her, preparing for a much more intensive scan of her condition.

"Weapons need to be removed from Sickbay," another nurse said to him. Hannah looked at her, his gaze blank and uncomprehending before he remembered the rifle and sidearm. He only nodded at that. "Sorry, emergency beamout," he answered.

"Can you tell me who you are and do you know where you are?" the first nurse said, beginning the visual inspection of the Lt. Commander. It gave Hannah a moment to step back and read the identification label on the wall chart, brought up automatically once the computer recognized her unique biosignatures.

“I’m the damn chief counselor of this bloody ship! Lieutenant Commander Victoria Rigby and if you don’t damn well let me loose I will call Doctor Porter down here and tell you you are all unlawfully holding me against my will! There is nothing damn well wrong with me except an ignoramous of a damn marine who thinks he knows best!” Vikki tried her hardest not to scream but knew her voice was still raised. What may have surprised those outside of the field more was that despite her tone of voice, there was a flicker of genuine and real fear in her eyes as the music in her head became louder and anger and fear threatened to over run her.

"Great, a frelling counselor," he said. Someone that could make his life miserable just on her sayso. Even the CMO needed medical data to back up their 'opinion' but a counselor? Nope, still wasn't much in the way of that. He might as well walk himself down to the brig and check in now.

But, he put aside his own concerns as he heard her, screaming sure, but there was something else. He'd been on enough battlefields to recognize how masking angry pronouncements could be. "Where's the doctor?" he asked, looking around, realizing he still had his rifle slung on his back but had, somehow, managed to have the mind to pocket the sidearm. His quads felt much too heavy with all the extra items in his pockets at the moment as he took a step forward.

"On the way," the nurse said, "we've had him recalled."

"Dammit," Hannah said. She was surely going to nail his hide to the brig wall and see that he rots there for a good long time but...he was taught as a boy that it wasn't how people treated you that defined your character, it was how you treated them. And the pain scans were still overactive and...the auditory complexes were overstimulated.

"Computer," he said, stepping up to the bed scanner, "prepare an injection of 10ccs inologue sodium," he said after quickly scanning through a database.

"What are you doing?" the nurse asked, trying to brush him away from the scanner.

"She's in pain!" he said, turning to her and standing his ground. "And she's going to crucify me anyway, at least she can be free of the pain when she does it." He very carefully and deliberately did not look at the lieutenant commander. "Add 1500 milligrams of ceratome complex theta and inject."

"The doctor is on the way!" the nurse said.

Vikki watched the marine even as she felt the pressure continuing to build in her head before he had administrated any drugs. The terminology and drugs made some sense; through her medical training she understood their uses but why here and now? As the music continued to thump through her head, triggering the threat of more anger and pain; her eyes locked with the medic’s as something in it seemed to almost plead for a release.

Hannah shook his head as he turned to watch the monitors. If he was right the ceratome complex should help alleviate the stimulation of the auditory complexes which, combined with the pain receptor inhibtor inologue sodium would then relieve most of the pain. Probably not all because, without knowing what caused the problem he couldn't fix the auditory stimulation nor do anything about the overstimulation in the cerebellum.

Vikki eyes never left the marine as she watched his facial expressions and each movement. In response to the drugs she could feel the pressure inside of skull lift; a sense of almost relief started to expand as she felt some sembelence of control. Focusing on the medic helped the woman to just focus; to allow her real thoughts to push back through; to allow her frantic breathing to slow itself down.

[Patton's Quarters]

Patton has just finished showering and getting dressed for his bridge shift. He had intended to get a cup of coffee and check in on his new friend Jasmine when he was called to sickbay. One of his people was there with weapons! He shook his head, there had better be a damn good reason. He came into sickbay and immediately looked around until he saw his soldier. Heading over he stood with his hands clasped behind his back waiting for the situation to be under control before he spoke.

[Medical]

"Oh, good!" the nurse said, spying Patton as she checked the diagnostics to make sure this corpsman idiot didn't cause any further damage. "Get him out of here!"

Hannah looked over his shoulder at who the nurse was speaking to and, though he'd yet to meet the man, he had done his homework and knew who the new Lt. Commander was. He let out a breath as his head lowered for just a moment.

Then, slowly, he brought his hands out to his side and moved them behind his head as he sunk to his knees, crossing his feet behind him. His hands were still uncomfortably close to the rifle, but it was secured on the pack and he hoped the Commander knew that he knew if he went for it, he'd be shot dead - or stunned into next week. He still had the sidearm in his bulging pocket but he had no intention of reaching for that either.

Honestly, whatever happened at this point, he wanted to survive the day. The brig may not be very nice, but it was still survival.

“Someone want to explain to me what is going on!” Patton growled. He was certain that the corpsman didn’t bring weapons into sickbay on a whim. He didn’t make decisions based on appearances. His eyes met the nurse. “I will remove him at my leisure not yours.”

Hannah kept in the snort of laughter at hearing that, but only because he was still in trouble. Still looking down, wandering why he wasn't in custody yet he remained in the same position as when he first saw his unit CO. "Sir," he said, trying to sound calm and measured, "I'm surrendering to lawful authority. I've..." he sighed. "I've violated ship rules by bringing weapons into Medical and...Lt. Commander Rigby will most likely be filing additional charges. When she can think straight again, that is."

“Don’t put words into my mouth.” Vikki voice snapped out her response but the strain behind the words betrayed the weariness and upset the counsellor was beginning to feel. As the headache faded in its intensity; the music seemed to move to more of a background noise rather than the intensity that has featured before.

Closing her eyes, the woman attempted to rub a hand across the orbs but the attempted movement caused the shield encasing her body to flicker and almost dare her to try again. “Let me out of here!” Distress tinged her words as she looked over to the gathered group of people.

“Petty Officer,” Patton barked. “I didn’t ask you to convict yourself. I want you to tell me what happened and then I will be the one deciding whether to lock you up or not.” He looked over at Rigby. “You don’t look like you're- in any condition to be wandering off.”

Hannah took a deep breath as he tightened his fingers behind his head. His knees were beginning to ache from kneeling on the deck and the left hamstring was threatening to cramp. But..."Sir," he said, letting out the breath in a rushed exhale. "I...I was late getting to range quals, sir," he said, trying to shrug, keep his hands behind his head and shake his head all at the same time. It didn't work.

"I was rushing and, I don't know the ship very well and...I didn't mean to do it but I bumped into her, sir, and that seemed to...I tried to help her up and she...grabbed for...I saw she was in distress and I helped hold her up and then because she almost fainted I had us transported here. I had my weapons on me, but Iswearthey'reonsafetyandIhavethemdeactivateduntilIgettotherange," the last came out in a single, rushed exhale.

The CMO came from around the corner at that moment. "Excuse me," Sherwin Porter said as he made his way past the nurse, sidling up beside Petty Officer Hannah and Lieutenant Commander Sullivan. He smiled down at Victoria, "Well, hello again, Counselor," he said as he pushed an injection vial into her arm, "this should make you feel better."

Sherwin stepped back slightly as he let the drug he injected into her system take place. He glanced sideways at the two men standing beside him. "Commander Rigby was on the Away Team on the surface with me," he noted. "When we arrived back on the ship, I realized something had flooded our dopamine receptors while we were on the surface." As a neurosurgical specialist, it hadn't taken him long to identify which areas of the brain had been affected. "I created an dopamine transmitter inhibitor," he said as he held up the empty vial, "and used it on myself first. She should be back to normal in a few moments."

“At ease,” Patton ordered his corpsman. “Collect your weapons!” He turned to the Doctor. “Lieutenant Commander O’Sullivan.” He almost grinned at the nervousness of his soldier. “I know the rules and regulations for weapons in sickbay. However, my medic knew they were on safety and as any medical officer would do, he put the health and safety of a crew member first.”

Hannah blinked a few times, running it through his head. Had he heard right? He must have. Slowly he lowered his arms and rose to his feet, keeping his rifle strapped across his back and not even thinking of reaching for the sidearm in a bulging side pocket. "Yes, sir," he said, wondering what was the best way to slink away from the middle of this officer cluster.

Except, now it was his worst nightmare - both his unit CO and the ship's CMO...the heads of the two departments he answered to...both here...because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and knocked over another officer. This was textbook Way NOT to Meet Your CO.

"No worries, Commander," Sherwin told him. "I know I've only been on the ship for a few days, but this is my second stint as CMO of the Enterprise. I know the history of this ship and it's predecessors, and the first thing I did when I came on board was place a dampening field around Sickbay. All weapons are inoperable in here."

"And I know that you were just attempting to help Commander Rigby," Porter said turning his attention to Corvus Hannah. The doctor was partly Betazoid and partly Ullian, and could feel the waves of consternation and concern emanating from the Petty Officer.

Hannah slowly rose to his feet, trying his best to avoid contact with all the senior officers, which was difficult as he was surrounded by them. The big problem was where to put his hands. He started to keep them raised but that felt ridiculous and he didn't want to get barked at by his CO again, either one really. But putting his hands in his pockets put it too close to his sidearm. Finally he settled for a modified 'at ease'. It put his hands behind his back, by his rifle, but it seemed the least threatening and the least likely to get him yelled at.

"Thank you, sir," he muttered at the doctor's words. It was what he wanted to do, the knocking her down was completely unintentional.

Patton smiled at the doctor. “Thank you for your understanding. If we are good here. I will take Hannah and we will head on our way.”

"Yes, sir," Hannah said, trying to keep his tone neutral. He had no idea how much trouble he was still in with the brass but it seemed he was about to find out.

"Of course, Commander O'Sullivan. We will be just fine here," the CMO replied.

“With me, Hannah,” O’Sullivan spoke in a clear voice that brooked no argument. He didn’t look to see if Corvus was with him, if he wasn’t he would be looking for a new job.

"Sir," Hannah said simply, moving to keep up with the unit CO. He gave Rigby a quick look over his shoulder. Despite all the problems in his life right now centered on her, he still hoped they were able to fix whatever was causing her problems.

"Oh," Porter called out to Petty Officer Hannah, "don't forget your physical is scheduled at 0700 hours tomorrow morning."

"0700, yes sir," Hannah said, turning briefly to speak with the doctor, but then realized O'Sullivan was still on the way out and hurried to catch up.

Sherwin nodded at the acknowledgment, then looked down at Victoria. “How are you feeling?”

Vikki was more than a little annoyed that no one had seemed fit to remove the forcefield while all of the conversation was still happening around her. At the same time she had an awareness that the music in her mind seemed to have shifted back to the background, it had become easier to focus and concentrate than before. “Better...Could you perhaps let me up?”

He glanced at the readings above her to confirm that they were indeed coming back to normal. He reached down and put his hand behind her back to give her a little help, lifting her as she began to sit up. "Just take it slowly," he said.

“Don’t tell me...” Aware suddenly that her voice tone was high and she was coming across as angry and irate still, Vikki closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath as she accepted the offer of help. “I’m sorry Doctor. I just...I...” The counsellor could feel tears threatening as she tried to compute, order and understand all that had happened. “I need to talk to Patton. Hannah...”

"I know," the CMO replied, "and you will. But right now you need to stabilize here. I will make sure you both have a chance to discuss this." Porter decided that he, himself would counsel them on this matter.

[Corridor]

“What could you have done differently,” Patton spoke. “You had a medical emergency and no place to stow your weapons. So your choice was risk her health and go for help, leave your weapons in the corridor or follow the path you chose.” He stopped and turned to stare at Corvus. “Well!”

Hannah stared straight ahead. He wanted to drop his eyes, knowing that he screwed up here and caused a mess of the day. But, there were protocols that were to be followed and he would, at least when there wasn't an emergency. "I could pay more attention to where I'm going so I don't knock people over," he said, after several long moments of thinking. It was true, he didn't mean to take weapons to Medical, honestly he forgot all about them when she collapsed. So, really, avoiding the situation in the first place was the best he could have done differently. "Know where I'm going and," he did drop his gaze now at this admission of Boot 101, "properly secure weapons as I move around the ship."

Patton almost smiled. “I am impressed by the fact that you took responsibility for what happened. Also, that you realize the mistakes you made. I want you to complete the weapon safety program on the holodeck and have the final report delivered to me. You are to continue to work with your team but will not serve on any away teams until I know you have completed it and have run through a couple scenarios successfully.” He took a deep breath. “That being said, I believe you handled the officers collapse correctly. I am not all that concerned with weapons in medical and neither was the senior staff member. Situations happen that we can’t avoid.” Patton hoped Corvus didn’t think Patton would always be this lenient. He saw something in him and knew he had the makings of being an exceptional member of the team. “I believe in second chances, don’t make me regret it.”

"Yes, sir," Hannah said, more upset at being 'grounded' from away team duty until he was cleared than anything else. Sure, going back in training wasn't good and it would look bad in his jacket, possibly costing him during his next promotional opportunity, but...he was a combat medic because he believed in the best medical care possible for the combat troops.

He looked up, starting to offer a different punishment as a deal but stopped himself because he knew it would just make it worse. This just sucked!

"Yes, sir," he said again, simply and defeated. What was he to do, it wasn't an unfair punishment considering the circumstances, and well within his purview as the unit CO. But it sucked!

Patton stared at him for a long moment, remembering a screw up of us own once, a long time ago. He crossed his arms across his chest. “I can tell you have something on your mind, spill it.”

"Sir," he said, staring at the wall. "I know I screwed up and you're being more than nice and fair about the whole thing, better than I expect to deserve." He shrugged while shaking his head. "But, it just sucks that I'm endangering my team because of my own stupidity."

He dared to glance directly at his CO. "Isn't there something else other than grounding me? Take away my weapons cert until I earn it back, barracks restriction, weeks of extra duty? Anything else, sir? Just, don't make me hear that one of my guys is seriously hurt and I can't be there to take care of'em. Throw in replicator restrictions if you've a mind," he said, hoping he wasn't coming across as overstepping his bounds. "Make me stay in the brig when not on assignment. Anything else?"

Patton listened to him speak, watched his manner and his tone of voice. Hannah truly regretted his actions. “Okay. You may serve with your unit, no weapons.” He saw the relief on Corvus’ face. “Until you are recertified.”

"Thank you, sir!" Hannah said, straightening as his smile widened.It struck even him odd to be happy to be punished but, as he learned moments earlier, it could have been much worse. "Thank you!"

“You are dismissed,” Patton replied. “Be aware of
Your surroundings and make taking care of your weapons a priority.”

"Yes, sir," Hannah sad, sad that he lost something but still glad that...he stopped himself. His mother would be very upset to learn he forgotten his manners. "Sir?" he said tentatively. "Thank you for understanding as well. I couldn't lose another brother."

He made sure he had both the sidearm and rifle, both firmly secured on him, so that he could return them to the master at arms. He would schedule the weapons certification classes for as soon as he could but, he knew, that as a mere petty officer he wouldn't be high on the priority list. In the meantime, though, he could focus on going over his emergency medical procedures and...maybe get to work with Dr. Stewart and get to know him a bit better as well.

At the moment, it turned out he was one lucky combat medic where both his COs were decent officers. He knew others that would kill to have just one. Dismissed, he turned and headed to the armory.

Patton was almost to the end of the corridor when he stopped and turned, looking back at Hannah. “Meet me in the mess hall for breakfast. Six hundred.”

"Yes, sir," Hannah said, confused by the order. But it was still an order.

“Be hungry!” Patton called out as he turned the counter and was gone.

RSS Feed