The Odd Couple

Posted on Wed May 6th, 2020 @ 6:18pm by Liha t'Ehhelih & Ships Doctor Quinton Sarratt MD

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: Unknown
2726 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

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Quin doubled over, all four limbs on the ground as he coughed. For a moment there, he wasn't sure what had happened, he remembered traversing the caves and assisting Liha in trying to locate the Captain. The next thing he could remember is nothing. He rolled over as the pain started to set up. He took in a labored gasp of air as he held his side. He didn't need a tricorder to confirm what he already knew. He had broken a few ribs. He reached up, trying to wipe the dirt from his eyes. "Liha," he called out as he coughed.

The answer initially came as a moan - evidence in itself that she was barely conscious. As Liha came around, she almost immediately decided that was a bad idea. Pain radiated across her shoulder and down her arm. At first, she could hardly feel one leg, but an attempt to move resulted in a sharp stab through her thigh, resulting in the harsh intake of breath to suppress a cry of pain. She almost regretted the superior night vision that allowed her to glimpse the cause through the darkened rubble. "Over here," she replied through gritted teeth. "I would come to assist you, but my leg appears to be impaled."

Quin had trouble focusing; clearly, the blow to his head had been a bit harder then he had thought. He crawled over to Liha's location, "let me take a lot, I promise no Human-like medication," he winked as he picked up his tricorder and made several passes over the Romulan's body. "Your leg is easy, but your shoulder," he looked at the display, "if we were on the ship I could fix that, but you've broken your collar bone and damaged your glenohumeral joint," he paused, "shoulder. Whatever you do, don't move that arm. We are going to have to find a way to immobilize that shoulder for now." He coughed as he grabbed his side.

"Not sounding so good yourself, Doctor."

"What the hell happened?" he asked, still unable to recall how they ended up down here. He coughed as he took off his jacket, tearing out several large strips. "We need to find my bag; we are going to need a few things."

"We?" Liha scoffed. "Whatever brought the roof down, but part of a joist through my leg, which I think even you can see, will hamper my ability to search."

"Figure of speech, why don't we tone down that Romulan arrogance for a bit," he muttered, "or one of us isn't making it out of here." He smiled as he did his best to tie off her shoulder with the scraps of fabric. "It's here somewhere," he looked around, trying hard to see through the dust and debris in the air. "Sadly, I wasn't expecting a dire situation, so I didn't pack much. Just a few essentials for the Captain."

Liha lifted an eyebrow, giving him a Look - one that suggested that no matter how badly injured she might if one of them weren't going to make it out of here, the odds were that it would be him.

He turned to Liha, worried she was going to try and move that shoulder. He took another longer piece of the torn jacket, "take a deep breath, this is going to hurt, but we need to stabilize this until I," he smiled, "can find my bag." It wasn't much a few pieces of broken timber, acting as a splint; he tied her arm to her chest. She'd be able to move in time, but the arm needed to be stabilized and immobilized before then.

She hated complying, but there was little choice. "I will manage. And hope you anticipated that the Captain might need at least the essentials for injury from a mine accident," she snapped. But she took a breath and nodded readiness.

Quin carefully picked up her arm while stabilizing her shoulder as he drapped the arm over the chest just under her breasts and firmly tied it in a sling. It would keep everything in place and prevent damage from accidental movement. As he finished, he looked at her eyes, checking for color, dilation, movement; he reached down carefully to her affected arm and checked her radial pulse. It was decreased but still stable, that was a good sign. "I'm going try and find my bag before we take care of that leg," he commented, "we will need something to pack that wound with, and I'd rather make sure it's sterilized." He stood up, holding his chest once more as the pain was starting to get a little more than unbearable. "Worse case, we seal it with a low-level phaser.." he was only kidding.

Liha clenched her jaw though the procedure and dug nails into her good hand so hard she nearly added another injury to her list. But she did NOT show pain. Unlike the doctor. "Perhaps you should let me fix whatever you've broken first." She gingerly lifted her good hand. "I'm not completely incapacitated, and I'd prefer to avoid having to cauterize my own wound by heating this chunk of metal with a phaser."

"It's a couple of broken ribs," he replied, "I think," he ran the tricorder over his own self yet. "If I keep the moving down, I can manage through this. Your injuries are far worst and need to be treated first." He turned to look around the room as his footing in the dirt shifted, sending him to the ground belong. He tried to stifle the scream, not trying to show pain in front of the judgemental Romulan. "Ok, maybe this is a bit more then I had assumed," he hissed through clenched teeth as he gave her the tricorder. He couldn't help but make a joke, "never thought I'd be getting medical attention from you," he grinned, gritting his teeth.

"Can't be worse than yours," she snarked, and then sucked a breathe as she opened the kit at her side and extracted a roll of silvery tape. For the first time, she was grateful for Burnie's insistence that duct tape was an essential item in a tool kit. She peeled an edge up with a nail and then used her teeth to pull and tear a strip free. Even keeping her bad arm as still as possible, the motion caused a spike of pain. "Honestly, I never thought I'd give it, so don't expect a gentle touch."

He couldn't help it, "I am sure your former lovers thought the same thing," he snipped, but the comment was more to mask the pain and prep himself for the next step. He sat down on the ground beside her as he mentally was ready for anything. "Just get it over with," he closed his eyes as he pointed to the section that needed tapped up and secured.

Liha snorted. "It's almost cute that you think that's an insult." She maneuvered the tape so one finger was stretched to keep it from folding on itself as she got one end tacked to his side. Eyeing the area, she tossed the tape to him. "Tear two more strips. It'll give you something to focus on while I press this down."

"What you can't give me a stick to bite down on," he almost allowed a smirk to cross his face. He held the roll of tape up, as he tore the first piece off, he couldn't hide it. He almost dropped the roll as Liha placed the first piece around his chest. "Damn," he barely spoke above a whisper. "Ok, maybe I did a bit more than break the ribs," he coughed as the started to tear a second piece, "I'd you be gentle, but I'm afraid of what you think gentle might be." He began to tear another section, as she placed the second binding, this time a bit higher and with more force. She knew what she was doing, applying pressure in the proper area but still. He could definitely feel this one as the role of tape fall out of his hands, "ok," he stated through clinched tears, "two will have to do, I need to tend to your leg."

He looked at her, "what?" He tossed his arms up, causing a momentary rush of pain. "I'm not Romulan; I don't have your mind-numbing training..."

Clenching teeth against the pain she knew the motion would cause her, she opened her hand and pressed the firmly along his rib.

Quin was going to protest but was unable as Liha placed a third piece of tape over the affected area. "You missed your calling," he joked, "you should have been a nurse." He didn't really mean it, but he had to cut the tension somehow. The two of them had enough stress, and it was going to get worse as they were stuck here. The hope for them both was a quick rescue. But did anyone know they were down here?

"As long as it hurt you more than me," she joked back. She had gone a little easier than she might have, but even Tal Shiar would never get her to admit that it was for any reason except that humans were more frail and delicate. "Now, if you can find your kit and get me free of this without bleeding out, maybe we can work on finding a way out."

Quin looked around carefully, standing up as he kicked over a few objects here and there to find his bag. It had taken a few minutes to find the missing supplies. He was surprised at how far from the accident his bag had been traveled. He gathered the bag and made his way back to Liha, as he tried to figure out what to treat first. The leg wound was sealed by the piece of metal stuck in the wound. She was bleeding but mildly. Her arm was being held to her chest by the makeshift bandaid. He looked at her as she made his way to the leg. "I'll tell you this is going to hurt, but I doubt you'd give me the satisfaction of knowing," he acknowledged her control.

Liha nodded, mouth fixed in a thin smile. It was a compliment of sorts.

Carefully he moved bits of rubble and debris from the area around her leg. Taking a knife from his bag, he carefully cut her pants around the wound to get a clear view of the injury. He took out his tricorder as he attempted to get a better scan, trying to figure out exactly were the piece of metal went in and what major objects were damaged in the process. It was going to be a simple task; he didn't give her the options of counting or knowing when he was going to remove the metal. Typically that only allowed for the person to tense up as they mentally prepped themselves. Instead, he looked at her, "well, we have two options," he stated as he pulled a few items from his bag. He hadn't packed a lot, but it was enough. An autosuture, something to clean the wound, and; he looked in the bag honestly hoping he'd packed more, but he only had the basics. He was not going to be able to fix that shoulder. Before she could reply, he reached over and pulled the piece of metal from her leg as he began to spray the cleaning agent into the wound.

Taken by surprise, she nearly gasped, but just caught herself, sucking air in a sharp hiss. "I hope none of that affects me like whatever you gave Cassie," she said through clenched teeth.

"Hmm," he gave an evil grin, "trapped alone, in a cave of some sorts, and drugged out of her mind," he shook his head, "nope thought never crossed my mind. But I'm sure someone of your intense Romulan training won't be able to fall for my tricks." He delicately cleaned the wound, knowing that no matter what Romulan training she had received, this was going to hurt. He had the drugs but knew she wouldn't allow them to be used.

"No one is immune from... being drugged," she said through clenched teeth. She would not show pain if she could help it, but after seeing what happened with Cassie, she'd bite on a stick rather than take analgesic no matter how bad it got. "Just ...get it over with."

Quin sprayed the wound with a disinfection agent and started to use what resources he had available to him to help seal the wound. He could have done a much better job had they been on the ship, but that wasn't an option. "The leg wound will be fine," he stated, "I can stop the bleeding and keep it clean. But, I can't lie; I am more concerned about that shoulder. I am certain I don't have the resources to take care of that." Quin offered a hand, as she was clearly going to need some assistance getting to an upright position. "I promise I don't bite," he tried to smirk. "Let's get you sitting up properly and figure things out...."

Liha hated accepting help, but there was no choice. Hurting herself further trying to manage on her own would be worse - particular because the doctor would never let her forget it. "Very well." She gritted her teeth, and took his hand, allowing him to help her shift upright. A string of Romulan curses ran through her head, both at the pain and the embarrassment at needing assistance for something as simple as sitting up, but she managed to contain them.

Quin almost allowed an insult to cross his lips, but as he looked in her face, he could tell this was hard for her. Quin rarely refrained from speaking his mind, but something in this situation told him to keep it professional. Her appearance spoke of control and a certain stoic behavior. However, he couldn't shake that feeling it was all an act. He ran the tricorder over his shoulder wound, there was no way she wasn't feeling some pain. He looked at her, "we need to find a way out of here," he didn't need to add as soon as possible. The longer they waited the more serious her shoulder injury was going to get.

Liha had no such compunction about biting comments. "What's the human phrase? 'No shit Sherlock'," she shot back. On some level, she knew it wasn't fair since he was doing what he could to help her, but the attitude was an ingrained defense against showing weakness or pain, and that was her immediate focus. However, he wasn't wrong. "There's a small work light in my tool kit. It might help us spot an opening." Or at least assess how bad the situation was. To her vulcanoid senses, the air already smelled stale, but there was enough dust and mineral scent that might be misleading. She certainly hoped that was the case.

"Well, at least your award-winning personality isn't affected too much," Quin rolled his eyes. "Less attitude more assistance, and we just might make it out of here alive." He could her work light. Flicking it on, he started to take a peak around. He coughed a bit as the dust was starting to settle. "Hate to say it, but all I can see at this point," he looked around, "is a giant freaking cave..." He points, "looks like her fall from up there," he gestured to pile of rubble and an opening. "There's no way, in our present condition we are reaching that."

"At least it's potential for airflow, and maybe sound," Liha said. She knew comms wouldn't get through from down here, but a mine should have some sort of sensor system to send an alert when there was cave in which would mean someone - at least drone - should be coming to investigate. "HELP! DOWN HERE!" she yelled, and then winced as the movement of her chest sent pain shooting through her shoulder and side.

The call echoed for a moment, but there was no reply.

TBC...

Liha t'Ehhileh
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Burnstein)

Dr. Quin Sarrat, MD
Doctor
SS Mary Rose

 

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