I Bumped My Head

Posted on Mon Jun 12th, 2023 @ 4:54pm by Leiddem Kea (*) & Evelyn Reynolds

Mission: Fractures
Location: Medical
Timeline: January 25th 2398
2004 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

Leddiem had been putting off his medical for weeks but his latest bumped in a Jeffrey tubes had made a trip to sickbay a necessity. He stepped into the newly refurbished sickbay holding his sleeve against a bleeding forehead and called out. “Anyone around? I am bleeding a little.” That would normally at least bring anyone interested in medical out of the woodwork. It had been a simple drill going over the sons and cheron and the past that some of the crew had with them into them exploring the new defences. Leiddem had gotten distracted by thinking on what had happened with the evacuation corridor that he had misjudged the distant and hit the hatch.

As much as an upgraded Sickbay had been a dire necessity, as outlined by the full report Evelyn had presented to Gregnol upon request right at the start of her official tenure, running it efficiently with just a handful of staff was already requiring careful planning. When she'd first slowed down long enough to see a way she could be useful, the focus had been purely on getting preliminary certification for the existing staff. Upon reflection, Evie probably should have known Jake wouldn't relinquish her that easily, not now that he had another member of his 'screw Starfleet' fan club around to fill out numbers. She also should have anticipated that running an entire department was vastly different to heading up a research team, especially when lab work really wasn't the same as dealing with the constant stream of inattentive crew.

She loathed to think what it would be like in an actual emergency.

Inventory and stocktake were currently the bane of her existence. It was, after contemplating meagre and depleted stores, a very nice predicament to find herself struggling to store everything that had arrived with the last shipment but Evelyn was hardly going to permit cluttered spaces and it was somewhat ironic that perhaps the one thing that had been somewhat underestimated in the refurbishment was extra storage. She'd already commandeered one of the offline science labs for their training facility; clearly it was time to go back to the negotiation table.

Nevertheless, it was into an otherwise-empty Sickbay that Leiddem walked, the sole occupant currently deep in the throes of registering inoculation doses that would make her the least popular member of staff once everyone received notification of which vaccines they were due to update. The doses required careful documentation but bleeding was bleeding and the phrase not all over my nice new floor was practically an unspoken rule.

"Quantify 'a little'," she asked, setting aside her task to move towards him, picking up a medical scanner on the way.

Leidden considered who he was talking to for a moment before he smiled brightly. He was slightly relieved it was her and not his fellow Betazoid. It was a relief to have not to explain himself fully and feel insecure more than he already was feeling more and more with him around. “Well enough there might be a few spots of blood around the ship that escaped my sleeve.” He said quietly. It was disappointing to spoil his favourite jumper this way but it was better than having to explain the mess as he made his way around the ship to sickbay.

"I believe our first aid stations are better supplied than that," Evelyn chastised, motioning for him to take a seat as she took a clean towel from its dispenser and held it up ready beside his forehead. "Okay, let me see what we're dealing with." The swift exchange didn't give the wound much chance to drizzle, Evie pressed the towel in firmly and held it there for a few second before risking a peek. The very slightest exhale of air betrayed her sigh. "Well, that's going to need stitches." Lowering the towel again, she lifted his blood-stained hand to take over the job of applying pressure and moved gather her instrument tray. "Dare I ask how the other party fared?" There was a glint in her eye that suggested humour though Evelyn in full professional swing could have put a Betazoid matriarch through their paces when it came to commanding a conversation.

“None of them were on the route here from where I was on deck 12. So ship got a sacrifice to appease any of the curses we still have.” The man said smugly before he winced at the towel that was put on his head. He stayed silent for a moment listening to her words, stitches sounded like he was not going to be able to hide what he had stupidly done. “Oh it came off better, for once I let the ship win.” He admitted with a shrug putting his cleaner hand on the towel to hold it there. He might. It officially be under medical now he still remembered his marine medic training.

Luckily for Leiddem, stitches was more professional jargon than an actual description of the procedure, though Evelyn would not have been her father's daughter had she not been capable of using thread and needle if the occasion called for it. Micro-sutures were not necessary outside emergency procedures, however the smallest version of a dermal regenerator, on the narrowest of settings, required a similar sewing technique to ensure precision and to deal with the wound from internal laceration of tissue to the outer aesthetics without compromising the healing process of any layer. Having sat him in one of the new chairs designed for certain procedures, Evelyn activated the control to send the Betazoid backwards to a more reclined posture and slid a custom-sized cushion beneath his neck to assist in holding his head steady before she pulled her up own stool and loomed over the top of him. A hypo of antibiotics was a precaution against infection after she activated the cubicle's steri-field, followed by another to numb to site.

The hum of the device was promptly followed by a sensation most considered to be little more than an annoying itch.

"The more I review your medical files, the more I'm inclined to suspect your curse situation is going to take a lot more than a single headbutt to unravel." Pulling down an eyepiece to magnify her field of view, Evelyn concentrated on performing tiny little movements back and forth to close off the deepest layers of the gouge. "Hardly your average cargo vessel.

The man stayed quiet as he was manhandled into a chair and the chair sat back quicker than he had adjusted for which flung him back a little quicker than he expected. “No one ever claimed it was simply an average cargo vessel. Don’t think it was ever a simple Starfleet vessel when it was that either. Ship curse goes way back but I like to think my blood keeps you safe. We lose doctors.” He retorted with a wink.

"Well, that's careless of you," Evie shot back, eyebrow raised. Focused on her handiwork, she otherwise didn't flinch and certainly was well past any point of being impressed by the playful antics of Betazoids. "This is much easier if you keep your face still," was what she said instead, the wink having forced her to pause work. "As for your reputation with maintaining senior medical staff, it's hardly any surprise given the conditions they were expected to work in. Perfectly adequate for an average cargo ship, exceedingly lacking for a ship that seems to attract every spatial anomaly in any given region." Her tone wasn't overly harsh, however, veering towards a pragmatic dry wit.

“Sorry. I should know to stay still.” He quickly froze and did not play around with anyone. He could feel the weight of his mother and sisters judging him from wherever they were in the universe. It was not exactly hard to judge him when he got into trouble. “Ah you know you are just jealous that your Starfleet ship never had all the fun.” He had not grown up with four sisters to bow to dry wit. “But seriously we appreciate you hanging around.” He added more sombre.

Quips about Starfleet, or at least her involvement with it, were never going to land particularly well but there was something about the flippancy of the security officer's tone that gave Evelyn heart that both Jake and Gregnol had honoured their promises to keep her problems under wraps. Either that or Kea was particularly thoughtless and prone to prodding an injured bear, in which case he was certainly free to see how far that would get him. "How long do you think that will last," she asked, "once I've issued vaccination mandates to catch you all up on what's been allowed to lapse?"

"Depends on whether it will hurt." it had been a while since he had updated his vaccinations. "People should know better seeing we have had a curse with medical on this ship." He closed his eyes as the device got a bit to bright for him so close to his eyes.

"Not as much as developing pus-filled nodules on your lungs will," Evelyn pointed out, pausing for a moment to wipe away some of the fresh blood with a flush of saline solution.

"I can do my vaccinations now if you have time and it is all ready." He had been planning to go to bed after his injury anyway so it was not to bad in his opinion to get it out of the way.

A tiny smile almost put a dent in the physician's intentionally-brusque demeanour. "Nobody leaves my Sickbay without a clean bill of health," she reassured him, resuming the intricate work that was slowly knitting together his best attempts to carve a pathway directly downwards to his skull. "At least that's the aim. Possibly an entirely unrealistic one given this crew's capacity to injure themselves creatively."

It took several more moments but, eventually, Evie activated the chair's controls to move her patient into an upright position again and left him sitting there whilst she retrieved the remaining hypos that required administration before she'd let the Betazoid out of her sight. Stood in front, she pressed one high up each of his arms and activated them simultaneously. A final clean-up of the wound site resulted in the application of a thin strip of bio-plaster directly over the freshly-healed skin to give it some additional analgesic aid whilst the tissue settled. 'Now, straight home, find someone to keep you company." An eyebrow perked at the last instruction. "I've healed the wound but I need eyes on you for the next few hours as a precaution."

The man looked sheepishly at her and nodded. He was sure Delaney would be more than happy to look after him for once instead of him fussing. “I am sure that can be arranged with Laney.” He admitted softly as he slowly sat up properly and shook his head to assess how fixed he was. He was feeling a lot less woozy which was nice. “I appreciate the help.” He said standing up slowly.

Finally, Evelyn smiled. "Maybe try ducking next time. Come back if you feel nauseous or dizzy, or if you have a headache. The area might be a little tender for a while but it shouldn't cause you too much discomfort unless there's an underlying issue that I've missed." There was something about the doctor's tone that suggested she was only being thorough; it was difficult to believe that much escaped Evelyn's radar.

He nodded slower this time taking it all in and listening. It was pretty standard after a head injury so he would be fully prepared for it all. "I will try. It is very much my own fault but I really do appreciate the help." He said firmly and gave the woman a quick nod before leaving the room. At least his health would be improved now with all the antibiotics and vaccinations coursing through him.