round 5 Lt.Cmdr. Kevin Breeman/Lt. JG. Johanna MacLaren JP: Healing Hands

[Kali Nicholotti]

((Cargo Bay 4 - USS Columbia))

::Johanna MacLaren's fury at the dragon turned to terror as her back erupted in
fire. Her cry of anger turned into a scream of agony. Then she had no more
breath for the scream. She was drowning in her own blood as her chest seemed
buried under an enormous weight. She was going to die; Breeman was going to die
because she'd cared more for his hand than their safety. More fire ran down her
back and then the pull of the transporter gave a momentary surcease to the pain.
Fighting to breathe, struggling not to cry out, she tried to lift herself from
Kevin's inert form. She looked down to see him covered in her blood, but she
could not move. The strength had left her; her arm would not obey her and each
breath was now a fight. The clinical portion of her brain cataloged her
injuries. Massive blood loss, likely lung collapse, respiratory failure, likely
muscular laceration. She'd sent her staff to the center of the ship. No doctor
would arrive before she bled out. Twenty-six year old, Human/Betazoid female:
death from massive trauma and blood loss. Tears of pain and fear streaked down
her face. She would never see Joseph again. She was dying, and he might already
be dead in the Jeffries tubes. Then hands were lifting her and red fire of pain
gave way to the blackness of blissful oblivion.

::David Banks stepped through the doorway, his right index finger idly twitching
by his side. Ever since the war he'd never been able to kick that habit. Over
the years since as he'd trained to work as an excavation specialist at the
Federation archaeological digs all over the galaxy people had never failed to
notice the twitching finger as he'd walked. It happened most often as he
thought about what to do next, how to handle this or that situation.::

::It had been the transporter alert and then the faint sounds of the frantic
nursing staff trying to move a body that had triggered him. He'd not heard
anything like that since the war. Entering the cargo bay he saw someone he
recognized. A female medical officer. She was lying face down, two huge claws
protruding from her back.::

Banks: Christ....

::He looked around himself and saw a nurse looking about at the equipment.::

Banks: You. Yeah, kid with the hair.

Mengler: Me? Oo Jeez, I'm trying to find a doctor for Doc MacLaren! Who does
this guy think he is?Oo

Banks: You're with me.

Mengler: Who are you? I'm need a doctor for Doc MacLaren...

Banks: Listen to me, I know some officer has given you an order to stand here
and watch stuff. My name's David Banks. Give that officer my name if you get
in trouble. Until then you're coming with me.

::He picked up a medical tricorder from a table nearby and then walked over to
the patient and said,::

Banks: ::Whispering:: Perforated lung tissue. Tearing of the... rhomboids,
back muscles, spinal muscles. Tearing of the right... ribs...

::The boy stood beside him waiting until Banks turned and grumbled,::

Banks: Laser scalpel, suction, forceps.

::Dutifully the boy went and grabbed the required items.::

Banks: What's your name kid?

Mengler: Steve, I was trying to get a doctor for Doc MacLaren. Why didn't you
say you were a doctor...

Banks: Steve? Alright Steve, we're going to do a foreign object removal and
reconstructive lung surgery here, sound good?

Mengler:Oo Here! God, it's not like there's a choice.Oo Yeah, I'm a medic; I'll
help anyway I can.

::The red tide returned and Johanna found herself on her side, cold, shivering,
her arm numb and each breath a monumental effort. She prayed to pass out again
to end this agony and then there was an unfamiliar face and a gruff voice close
to her face.::

::David spoke softly to the woman,::

Banks: Hi... I'm a doctor... There's nothing to worry about okay?

MacLaren::she looked at him, shivering and her eyes luminous with the tears she
was trying to supress. Gasping:: Yes...there...is...lung collapsed...blood
loss...lots of...::She bit down on her lip to keep from crying out.

::Definitely a doctor. He got down on his hands and knees and said,::

Banks: Medical kit. Osteoregenerator.

Mengler:: still rattled by MacLaren's condition and the idea of turning her over
to a stranger.:: Say again?

Banks: See that uh... ::He indicated over toward the piping coming out from
the air filtration pump nearby.:: Pump?

Mengler: Aye, sir. We have one.

Banks: Pull it out and bring it here, will ya?

Mengler: You're going to do major surgery right here this minute? It's not
sterile! Are you serious?

Banks: [...] right I'm serious.

MacLaren:Ye're... a doctor...? Eh dinna ….want to...die...like this...

::David nodded and breathed quietly to himself, contemplating what he'd say.::

Banks: You won't die.

::As Mengler handed him the pump he pulled at the back of the casing until it
came loose. Retrieving a pocket knife from his breast pocket he adjusted the
power and then turned on the pump. It gently ran at just the right rate.::

::Setting the machine down beside him he said,::

Banks: It sounds like you're a highlander. That about right?

MacLaren:: gasping:: Eh'm a Lowlander...on my...dad's side...Scots are...
all...fighters though.

::Grinning, he spoke, trying to muster his best cheerful sounding voice and
said,::

Banks: Aayyyeee thought so.

::Turning to Steve he said,::

Banks: Now Steve, I want you to hold this machine right here okay? If you do
what I tell you everything will be fine, okay?

Mengler:: Looking at MacLaren's deadly pallor, he wasn't so sure:: Sure, of
course. You're going to be fine, Doc.

::As the boy held up the machine David sterilized the end of the nozzle with the
medkit sterilizer. Setting the nozzle down he looked through the medical kit
for an anaesthetic. Finding a local he attached it to the hypospray and pressed
it gently into MacLaren's back.::

MacLaren:Is it...as bad...as...it feels? Laird God, it hurts.

Banks: You're doing great. ::As he fired the hypospray he asked,:: What's
your name?

MacLaren::still struggling to breathe:: Johanna...MacLaren...Eh'm the...CMO. Eh
dinna ken...who..you..are

Banks: Yeah? ::Turning to Steve:: Turn it on please.

Mengler: Done

::He slowly ran the nozzle over the open wound as he gently pulled at the
claw.::

Banks: I'm David. David Banks.

MacLaren:: her hands suddenly clenching:: Oh God, what is that?

::He knew it would be stupid to try and distill it down. She was a doctor and
he owed it to her to tell her exactly what he was doing.::

Banks: Suction.

MacLaren:: shivering and beginning to ramble:: So cold.. is it snowing?...Joseph
can ice skate...Where is Joseph?

::Christ, she was going into shock. And yet the bleeding had stabilized, and
the lung was about ready to be repaired. He knew it was now or never and so he
decided now.::

Banks: Everybody's fine, Johanna.

MacLaren: Hope, is Hope...safe? Kevin! Must help him..

::He didn't know who either of those two were. So he did his best to improvise.
There were some things he knew he could be honest with her about. This wasn't
one of them. She had to know that she could lose consciousness without owing
the world around her anything, and that he'd take care of her while she was
out.::

Banks. Listen. It's time to start now okay. You're going to be just fine.
Don't worry about those two. I will take care of them, okay?

::He set the general anesthetic hypospray cartridge and placed it against the
woman's neck, his right hand now beginning to apply the haemosponge to the open
wound.::

Banks: That's it... We're both going to get through this.

::He set to work. Now he carried both people by himself.::

((Dreamscape))

::The pain was gone; the fear had fled. Snowflakes danced around Johanna and
looking down at herself, she was delighted to see iceskates on her feet and
Joseph laughing a few feet away, his cheeks ruddy from the cold. He glided over
and took her hand so they could skate together on the frozen loch just in front
of her childhood home in Aberfoyle. Their breath made little puffs in the frigid
air but hey were warm from the exertion of skating. For once there was no
misunderstanding between them, no misinterpretations. They were simply a young
couple in love, spinning and laughing. They moved into a spin and then his lips
were warm on hers, still tasting faintly of the hot chocolate they'd shared a
few moments before. She did another little spin, but when she turned back, he
was far away on the ice looking at her with a face stricken with grief; Hope
stood forlornly beside him. An older man she did not know stood with them. She
tried to skate back, but the faster she skated, the further away they seemed
until finally she was alone on the ice.

Lt.JG Johanna MacLaren
CMO
SB118/USS Victory and Columbia

and

David Banks,
simmed by
Lt. Commander Kevin Breeman
CEO
SB 118/USS Victory/Columbia