The Vice Squad PT2

Posted on Sat May 4th, 2013 @ 6:33pm by Lieutenant Anandra Delair & Ensign David Brody

2,821 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mission 82 - The Aggressor
Location: Holo-Suite 12 / Sick Bay
Timeline: Immediately Following "The Vice Squad"

ON:

The Holo-Suite was strangely quiet following the chaos of a simulated firefight only seconds prior. Ensign Brody had terminated the program when he witnessed Lieutenant Delair collapse. Initially, he assumed that, perhaps, she had fainted due to all of the activity. Although, Delair didn't strike him as the type of person that would succumb to stressful activities, simulated or otherwise.

He ran over to her and knelt besides her body. He patted her face and shook her gently in an attempt to restore her to consciousness. "Lieutenant! Can you hear me? Wake up!" It was then that he noticed a pool of blood quickly forming around her waist. An inspection of her midsection indicated a small wound above her right hip. However, as he rolled her to one side, he could see that the wound was much larger on her lower back. Delair began to come to, clearly stunned by what had just happened. "Delair! Thank the Gods! Can you respond?"

Anandra's adrenaline was pumping when the fire fight erupted, but she was by no means afraid, at least until one of the shots hit her, causing unimaginable pain to shoot through her lower torso. Her legs collapsed beneath her and she dropped to the floor, looking around for Brody before the overwhelming lightheadedness took hold and she shortly thereafter blacked out.

When she started to come to, the first thing she was aware of was the pain, which caused her to let out a groan. She then realized Brody was nearby and tried lifting her head, but any kind of movement caused the pain to worsen. Her breathing was ragged, despite her personal strength and courage Anan could not help the feeling of panic that crept up on her. "Brody--" she managed to roll onto her back again, though the pain caused her to groan more loudly this time and she found herself unable to vocalize her confusion over how in the hell she could have gotten shot. She placed a hand over the source of the pain, her hand becoming wet and sticky - she did not need to look at it to know what it was - and her anxiety only grew, coming out in tears as she lay her head back on the ground.

Brody inspected Delair's injuries and could only surmise that, somehow, the Holo-Suite's safety protocols had failed during the firefight, resulting in her getting shot. Brody knew that Earth's ancient projectile weapons were designed to maim or kill and lacked any sort of stun setting. Delair's blood loss appeared to be rapidly increasing. While the projectile was simulated, the damage it had done was most certainly real. He ran over to the arch and pounded his fist on the comm system. "Ensign Brody to Sick Bay! Medical Emergency in Holo-Suite 12!"

The call came conveniently at the time Hunter finished settling herself in the infirmary. She was relaxing a bit, resting her feet on top of the desk and hands behind her head. The plea from the officer came blaring through the COMM knocking Hunter's feet to the ground. "Perfect timing. Something I'm going to have to get used to." She was talking to herself quietly as she gathered her medical kit and ran for her life to the holo-suite. Luckily she was still at her physical peak.

The door swooshed open as the scene came into the doctor's view. Two officers she hadn't met yet were in the middle of a very interesting program... something she would have to ask about later. Something was quite wrong, and technology was fully to blame. Taking a deep breath Hunter practically slid over to Delair's side, the woman trying very hard to remain conscious.

"What the hell happened?" Hunter turned to Brody, and paused. The first thought that popped into her head was: Wow, he's cute.

Brody had been waiting for what had seemed an eternity before a member of the medical personnel blew into the Holo-Suite like a Terrellian wind storm. He did not recognize her, but that was not to be expected as Starbase 400 had been taking on a lot of new crew recently. He noted that she seemed quite young to be moving about with such confidence, but thought back to his own younger days and realized age is not synonymous with competence. He removed his blood covered hand from Delair's wound. "We were running a law enforcement program from Earth's past. We reached the climax, which involved the exchange of gunfire. I know for a fact her character continues on in future holo-novels, so this wasn't supposed to happen! The safety protocols had to have failed." He looked upon Delair, his new and close friend, who had become a ghastly shade of gray. "Hang in there, kiddo." It was an ironic moniker, considering she was more than eighty years his senior. He turned to the Lieutenant hovering above Delair. "Is she going to be all right?"

Hunter finished her tricorder reading. Gunshot wound... "We gotta get her to the infirmary." She quickly tapped her badge. "Thomas to Sickbay. Three to beam over." And with that, the three officers were moved to the now buzzing infirmary, placing Delair on an empty bio bed. As soon as Brody came into view Hunter was ready to have him wait outside. "Go tell Ops what happened. I'll update you when I get the chance."

Anandra groaned as they rematerialized in sickbay, every slightest movement causing her a great deal of pain. She opened her eyes, looking around, finding a strong sense of comfort in seeing Brody's face still nearby. As they moved her onto the bed another wave of pain shot through her and she closed her eyes, falling limp against the bed as unconsciousness took her once more.

Brody found it difficult to leave Delair's side. He felt entirely responsible for what had taken place. He knew there would likely be a formal investigation into what had occurred, but any sort of reprimand paled in comparison to the emotional Court Martial he was giving himself. Brody shuffled to the nearest panel and opened a channel to the Ops division. There, he filed an automated incident report, requesting a Level 1 diagnostic on the holo systems. He hadn't noticed that his hands were still covered in Delair's blood, which he subsequently smeared on the console.

He took the closest seat to Delair's bio bed without impeding Liuetenant Thomas' feverish work. He stared at his hands, shaking. He could stand at a Tactical in the middle of a battle, consoles overloading all around him, without so much as breaking a sweat, but this was different. He called over to Thomas. "Please, you have to help her."

After setting a hypo spray against Delair's neck, she was slightly disappointed the Chief Medical Officer wasn't present to witness this feat. Hunter was finally able to get a good look at the wound. The woman was lucky; no major organs were damaged by the bullet. The bleeding was probably freaking Hunter out the most. This was no holograph she was dealing with. This was all real blood. She was one of the lucky ones to deal with an actual trajectory wound.

It took a while, with some careful planning, to remove the bullet out of the torso. Any closer to the Celiac artery and there would be no hope. Obviously Delair was going to be off her feet for a few days. If only Hunter could work her magic and get her to stop bleeding.

Ensign Brody was now pacing, wearing down a path in the Sick Bay's carpet. He had seen a number of other people in Sick Bay recover much faster than it was taking Delair. He knew that it had nothing to do with Thomas' abilities, but was more about the severity of Delair's injury. He couldn't take all of this waiting any longer. He stepped into Thomas' field of vision, making his presence impossible to ignore. "I know I'd probably be in the way, but is there anything I can do to help?"

Hunter didn't want to ignore him. It was actually very very tough for her to not put him at ease. But what she was attempting to do was a lot trickier than she thought it was. Slipping her grip would mean the end of Delair. She was not in the position to do that so soon in her first assignment. As she replaced the current cloth soaking up the blood, she noticed dark red spots on it and smiled. The cauterizing had worked. With an excited "Yes!", the doctor directed the medical team to clean up her job and set Delair up for recovery, who was breathing slowly and steadily. It was time for her to break the good news to Brody and put him at ease.

After taking off the blood soaked gloves and scrubs, Hunter made her way to the nervous officer. She paused at the entrance of the room, waiting for Brody to notice she was standing there. "Ensign."

Brody was clearly confused, wondering why Delair wasn't sitting up on her bio bed ready to return to duty. He turned to Thomas. "Yes? How is she? Is she going to be okay?"

Hunter smiled. "Lieutenant Delair is fine." She obviously needed to check record files on the officer to know exactly who she was working on. "She obviously needs some rest and to keep off her feet for a couple of days. That was a pretty gnarly injury." Hunter looked down at her feet then back up at Brody. "I'm Lieutenant Hunter Thomas. Thanks for giving me my first medical emergency."

Brody wasn't sure if the Lieutenant was attempting to lighten the mood with levity or, if like many medical personnel he had encounter, she actually enjoyed the challenge of a medical scenario. "Thank you. Do you know when I'll be able to talk to her?"

Hunter's face dropped slightly at his indifference towards her. "Uhh yeah she's still out of it a bit but you can check in on her. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

Brody saw that Thomas seemed a bit dejected by his lack of enthusiasm for all of the work she had done to save his friend. "I'm sorry Lieutenant. I'm very grateful that you saved Lieutenant Delair." He looked over at Delair who seemed to be regaining consciousness. "I owe you no small debt of gratitude, Lieutenant. Watching you in action, I know that we're all in good hands here."

Hunter smirked a bit then patted the unknown Ensign on the back. "Go ahead. Go tell her she'll live to fight another day."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I'm Ensign Brody by the way. You may have saved my skin." He nodded and shook Thomas' hand vigorously. He turned to Delair, her eyes fluttering open. "You're okay! I thought you were done for!." He looked at her wound, which was looking significantly better than it had only minutes earlier. "Delair, I'm so sorry. I had no idea what went wrong. I completely understand if you're furious, but I'm just glad you're going to be ok."

When Anandra awoke her head felt clouded and dizzy - probably the effects of the anesthesia - and there was a dull pain where she had been injured. For a split second or so she couldn't recall what had happened, and then it all came flooding back as she heard the voices of Thomas and Brody. She opened her eyes, taking a deep breath and wincing at the ache it caused. When Brody approached she felt relieved to see him, and managed a bit of a smile. "Brody," she said, her voice sounding tired and drained, but a hint affectionate. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm glad you're not too upset considering I nearly got you killed. You were a guest in my program after all." The guilt was still written all over his face. "I don't know how yet, but I'll make this up to you." Brody stepped across the room to where Thomas had settled. He put his hand on her back and gently guided her to Delair's bedside. "The Doctor here patched you up. It looked like something from the frontline of the Dominion War."

Hunter looked up at David and shrugged her shoulders in an act of modesty. "Just doing my job." She placed her hand gently onto Anandra's shoulder. "Lieutenant Hunter Thomas, at your service. I'm gonna need you to keep off your feet for a few days. I kind of had to dig around a bit in your stomach but the wound is sealed and practically invisible. Unless you wanted a token for your mishap." She looked up at David and smiled. "She'll be back fighting by your side in no time."

Brody looked at Delair with a mixture of concern and relief. He was pleased with the good Doctor's bill of health, but was worried this experience might cause a rift in his fledgling friendship with Delair. "That's if she even wants to go back into the Holo-Suite with me." He put a hand on Delair's shoulder. "Maybe next time we'll run a nice, quiet bird watching program"

As Hunter and Brody spoke, Anandra listened, bringing an arm up to her forehead to shield her eyes from the overhead light. When she heard the words 'for a few days', Anandra felt her heart sink a little - she couldn't sit still for hours, let alone days. If the Lieutenant really thought she'd keep her here that long, she had another thing coming. However she was still too sore and tired to put up much of a fight at all, let alone lodge any complaints. She began to feel more alert, less cloudy as the Lieutenant introduced herself. Anandra opened her eyes, stirring and wincing a little in an attempt to sit up, but she still managed a smirk at Brody's suggestion of bird watching, affectionately putting a hand on top of his. His apparent guilt concerned her a little, but she would not take the role of the counselor unless her new friend came looking for one. She looked over at Hunter, offering an appreciative smile. "Thank you Lieutenant, I'll be sure to say a good word on your behalf when I write my report. I regret that we had to meet this way." She hesitated briefly, glancing at Brody before apologetically asking the Lieutenant for a moment to talk to him alone.

Without saying a word Hunter nodded and walked towards the office, turning and smiling at David before she disappeared. Now was the perfect time to celebrate her small victory. The spring wine was going to come later.

Brody watched as Lieutenant Thomas sauntered into her office. She was clearly pleased with herself, but had every right to be. He noted her level of confidence. Brody turned to Delair. "Go ahead, let me have it. I'll replicate some Klingon pain sticks if it'll help."

Anan couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her, painful as it was. "Don't make me laugh, it hurts - haven't you caused me enough pain?" she teased, then countered. "I am not going to 'let you have it' - you've done nothing wrong." She noticed the blood on his uniform, took his hand and turned it over to look at his palm. The sight of her blood on his hands put a tight knot in her throat, but she swallowed it down, linking her fingers with his so that their palms met. "Don't beat yourself up over this." she implored quite seriously.

Brody tried to steel himself. He had never felt so at fault for something since his parents were killed. He filled his lungs, held it, then exhaled forcefully. He squeezed her hand, hoping she was genuinely forgiving. He thought back to her actions in the Holo-Suite prior to the mishap. "I must say, you gave as good as you got. You've definitely earned your stripes as Katie Kincaid."

Anan gave him a bit of a smirk. ''Well I tried anyway. And you make a pretty good security consultant. Not that I should be surprised. I really had a great time.''

"Thanks. Now you get some rest. I think I'll stop by Ops and see if I can give them any information that could help them with repairs. And when you're all healed up, we have a city to save Detective." He grinned, feeling a little bit better about how things had turned out. He pulled the blanket up over Delair, making sure she was comfortable and dimmed her light. As he exited Sick Bay, he saw Lieutenant Thomas at her desk poring over a series of PADDs. When he was sure he had caught her attention, he mouthed a 'thank you' and nodded before stepping into the corridor. 'What a day', he thought.

OFF.

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