A Firebird's Physical
Posted on Mon Jan 27th, 2014 @ 4:33am by Lieutenant Colonel Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan & Commander Tressa Brislan
2,525 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Mission 84 - Blockade
Location: Sickbay, Exam Room
Timeline: After Returning From the Blockade
Phoenix had put off a few things since coming station crew. One, was the mandatory physical from the CMO. Jillian did not like docs poking and prodding, but who did? She however, was not phobic of them.
She was, however, a bit hungover from a wild one-night-stand with an immaculately packaged Klingon engineering officer from the KDF ship, Kotoran... That was probably not the smartest of choices of partners, in retrospect.
Klingons mated for life, and Phoenix would have none of that. Add to it, she did not know his name, but she did know his muscular build very well.
Jillian had scheduled a late-morning visit with Brislan, and she was still nauseated from the booze and now she had a broken left wrist, three cracked ribs, and she was pretty sure her hip bones were also cracked as she walked agonizingly into the turbolift.
It took great stealth on her part to leave the Klingon male's quarters, half-naked, without him noticing. In fact, she was running a bit late and had to finish dressing into her dirty uniform in the turbolift. And thankfully, only one small boy and his mother were in the lift with Jillian.
"Another reason not to have kids," Jillian told herself as she got out of the lift and zipped her flightsuit up.
The boy's mother had shielded his eyes from Jillian's lack of clothing, at least until Jillian put a shirt on over her undies. Phoenix was used to a pilot's life still. Which meant dress as you go and be geared by the time you reached your fighter.
Civilians didn't understand that sort of urgency and Phoenix had no doubt security would give her ticket for Indecent Exposure, but that was life.
It took Jillian only a moment of pause to catch her breath and quell that need to vomit all the excess alcohol still in her system, before she entered the brightly-lit hospital section of the station agonizingly. Instantly she put her aviator shades on to shield her eyes and walked the line of offices in an odd limp to find Brislan.
"May I help you? Are you here for emergency care?" a nurse asked politely.
"I have an appointment with the base's chief doc," Jillian said as she rubbed her temples. "Just point me somewhere and I'll wait, Kid."
"Of course," the nurse said, raising an eyebrow. "Right this way." She led the Major to a private exam room and left. A moment later Tressa walked in.
"Major Sullivan? I'm Doctor Brislan, how are you today?" she asked, extending her hand. "Velara said you are injured?"
"Comes with the territory," Jillian attempted to wave aside, only her left wrist ached from than attempt.
"Ah well, can you lie back for me please? Vitals, osteo-muscular and cardiovascular scans," the doctor said.
Jillian did as she was asked, very stiffly and tried not to blush too much. Doctors could reach pin-point accurate theories to why a patient had the symptoms that she did.
Seconds later she applied a hypospray to the Major's upper arm. "I'm giving you a muscle relaxer and a narcotic pain reliever. We need to set some bones before we can continue."
"I aint fuss'n Doc," Phoenix spoke as she made her neck as best a target as she could.
"Would you like to tell me how these injuries happened?" Tressa asked carefully as she set the woman's double-wrist fracture and broken ribs.
"Not particularly, no," Jillian flinched a bit, then took her shades off with her right hand. She rubbed her temples again as the light hurt her blood-shot eyes. "But since I get the feeling you may make it an order, it came from a one-nighter with an interesting Klingon specimen who's name I forget."
Tressa nodded; she had seen similar injuries a few times before and always late night or early morning. "Do you have pain elsewhere?" she asked as she began to gently palpitate the pilot's lower torso; she saw the woman flinch when she touched her bladder. "Computer, reproductive and urinary."
"You know Klingons," Phoenix answered wryly, and flinched a second time. "Rough and quick... And I'm a bit hungover, so naturally my head spins and my stomach churns."
"Severe urethral trauma, and you walked here?" the doctor said softly as the injury glowed bright orange on the screen. She applied another hypo, this one to the woman's lower pelvis. "Computer, page Velara please." Seconds later the Bolian arrived and scrubbed in.
"I need you apply pressure here and here so that I can make the repair; there is a lot of inflammation. Major, can you feel anything?" Tressa asked, laser scalpel in hand.
"Phoenix," Jillian corrected with a slightly weary stare at the doctor. She had been cut open a few times while awake, and tried to relax as much as she could. "And no, I can't... Didn't think it was that bad, really."
Tressa made the repair; it took several minutes and another hypospray to the lower pelvis. Tressa said something to the nurse that Phoenix didn't hear. As the doctor removed her gloves and washed her hands the Bolian took a blood sample from the pilot.
"I want complete blood count, metabolic, and enzyme panels please Velara," Tressa said. The nurse nodded as she left with the sample. The doctor pulled a chair up next to the biobed near Phoenix's head. "Major, I'm sorry Phoenix, you were scheduled for a routine annual physical today, and I've set 5 bones and basically rebuilt your urethra which means you have earned at least a ten-hour stay here at Le Spa Infirmerie. I need to ask you a few questions that you may find uncomfortable to answer but I need you to be honest with me."
Phoenix did not like where this was headed, but decided to cooperate. It was ingrained into her from her prison days, to do what the wardens wanted and the CMO was more or less the warden to her... for the moment.
"I'll try to cooperate as best I can," the pilot offered, feeling less nauseated at this point, and also felt no pain.
"How many sex partners have you had this year? Have you been tested for sexually transmitted diseases before? How often do you engage in unprotected sex?
"All the whores I paid for are from reputable establishments, so they are supposed to be clean," Phoenix both answered and evaded for she honestly could not tell you how many had been in her bed. "Folks I happen to get drunk and spend a night with, I could not tell you... Many details are generally blurry for me."
"Doctor Brislan, the blood test results are available for you to view," the computer said. Tressa pulled the readings up on her padd, tapping her fingers against the side as she did. She tried to mask the concern on her face as she smiled at the prone pilot.
"How long have you felt pain in your pelvis when you sit for long periods, relieve yourself, or have sex?" she asked gently.
Phoenix did not want to answer that. Technically she had that pain since she was forced to be someone else's partner, back on the prison colony. She never had a full construction and stomached the pain she did all those years out of embarrassment and self-loathing. Though taking a Klingon to bed last night, most assuredly acerbated the old injury.
"Nineteen years, I've managed with this pain," Jillian answered shortly. "It's mostly dull pain that goes away with enough booze, at the end of a hard day."
Tressa nodded. She looked at the padd for a moment, still tapping her fingers. "Computer, lipid panel on specimen JSX98-42."
"Yes, Doctor," the computer replied.
The doctor regarded the woman lying on the biobed. She had walked into Sickbay with multiple broken bones and a severely inflamed and damaged urinary tract. Walked, not transported. Tressa didn't know her personally but she was obviously a survivor.
"Phoenix, you have more than one problem. You tested positive for uterdifficilus. It is a trans-species disease that presents as an inflamed pelvic floor and cervix, and in the mid stages it moves into the urinary tract and causes a shrinking and hardening of the urethra and bladder."
"Might be why I piss myself on the odd occasion," Phoenix half-joked, if only to shield herself from expressing her real feelings, which was despair and complete terror.
"It is treatable but will take some time. It accounts for some of the numbers I am seeing here but not all. Your white cell count is through the roof; your body is under attack and we need to find out why."
"Ya got ten hours to find it, then," Jillian continued, still with her hard poker face on as she tried to relax, The pain-killers helped there, more than breathing exercises.
"Don't go making any plans just yet, Major," the doctor replied.
"Doctor Brislan, the blood test results are available for you to view," the computer said. Tressa scrolled through the report on her padd.
"Merilite..." she said softly.
"Used in many military-grade weapons," Phoenix spoke quickly and guardedly. Though if the doc wanted, she could scan the prison tattoo on Phoenix's shoulder to confirm that Jillian had worked in a merilite mine.
"You suffer from nausea, vomiting, lower back pain, muscle stiffness," the doctor said, more a statement than a question.
"You know... You and that moronic Marine CO I met, have a bad habit of telling me things I already know," Phoenix tried to cover. Naturally she did not know she was one of many inmates that suffered the blood poison, and she did not want to discuss it, now that she knew. Naturally, the insult was a deflection, to keep the doctor at arm's length.
"Computer, I will need a blood-specific chelation therapy to include alpha lipoic acid and keruline for specimen JSX98-42, and send for Velara please." She put her hand gently on Phoenix' arm. "I do not know how you have lived with so much pain but it has to stop. It ends today."
"I should tell you, I'm a hitter," Phoenix spoke as she tried to sit up. Of course, high on pain-killers meant her aim would suck, but she was not intending to hit the doc, just get a point across. "You might want to tell me in stupid-talk what it is you want to do to me, and tell me what effects it's gonna have on me. Cuz I'll hit ya if you start poking me without my say-so, Doc."
A second later she felt the light pressure of a hypo against her neck; the room spun and she tried to grasp the sides of the bed to steady herself but could not. She was completely paralyzed from the neck down. When she opened her eyes she saw the doctor and the tall nurse looking down at her.
"Your blood has been poisoned by merilite and the therapy to remove it will take a few weeks. We are moving you into the infirmary where you will be staying for the first chelation treatment and to give your body time to heal," Tressa said gently. She looked at Velara before turning back to Phoenix. "Chelation therapy is... uncomfortable. We have to pull the toxin out of your blood."
"But not without my consent, as it is patient rights to either discuss treatments beforehand, refuse treatment, or seek it elsewhere," Phoenix voiced loudly, trying to focus. She began to breath more rapidly as panic of constriction set in. "You didn't even.. want to wait for my permission though. You just charged in... poking and and prodding me and giving orders like you own me... rather than asking me what I wanted."
She was getting angrier, the more she realized she could not move, and that only raised her panic level. Jillian's eyes were now cold and murderous, the more she felt like a captive. And she kept spitting out her vile, the more this situation mirrored many of her experiences in prison... An indication that there was still PTSD untreated.
"But that's just typical... of Feds. You ignore your own rules... and assume control of the lives of others, because... colony folk aren't allowed to have a say in anything," Phoenix went on to rant, her head spinning now from all the drugs in her system, and the lack of air she was getting from the panic. "You're a slaver, and I... hate your kind. Now let me up and... let me go back to my quarters.. peacefully."
Logically, Phoenix knew she needed the treatments. Emotionally, she felt trapped, which wanting to escape was the only survival reaction she had to counterbalance the instability that was trying to creep up on her.
"Doctor? Computer called a Code Gray?" a male voice said. Phoenix could just see the armed Security officer at the door. Velara draped Phoenix's torso and legs with a blanket.
"That won't be necessary, thank you. I'm in no danger," Tressa said as she moved towards the door. The man eyed Phoenix uncertainly as the doctor put her hand on his chest and pushed him back. She turned around to face the bed again and nodded to Velara, who quietly left the room.
"Phoenix, I know you don't believe me and that's okay, but I am trying to help you. If we don't get this poison out of you... you will die. Not honorably, not heroically, but painfully. We are moving you to a new bed in a private room and I will inform your CO that you are off duty for at least ten hours. I will reevaluate you then and we will discuss the future course of your treatment. I am sorry that I had to immobilize you but you must rest," the doctor said.
"There will... be a reckoning... when you're... done," Phoenix promised at the most severe moment of panic. Partly because Phoenix did not register the apology because she was too occupied with trying to breath properly.
Two nurses entered the room and released the bed. Though she was still conscious Phoenix was feeling the effects of the narcotic and paralytic. Which was probably why she went quiet, still breathing very laboredly.
What started as a fight against the doc, suddenly turned into a fight against herself, and Phoenix was determined to win out as she had many times before.
Tressa watched as Phoenix was moved out of the exam room and into a private room near Intensive Care. She left a moment later, heading for her office. This was a going to be difficult and would require time to let the obviously terrified woman heal and hopefully learn to trust again. The doctor was amazed how long Phoenix had lived in pain.
This is just the beginning she thought as the office door slid closed behind her.
Major Jillian Sullivan
Commander, Air Group
Starbase 400
Lieutenant Commander Tressa Brislan
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase 400
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