Resiliency's End

Posted on 09 Nov 2024 @ 4:16pm by Lieutenant T'Lara Ahmad & Captain Bane Plase

1,210 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Stranded
Location: Deck 1 - Main Bridge
Timeline: current

[This scene occurs after the warp core restart which is currently in progress]

As T'Lara finished traversing the last section of Jeffries tubes to reach the bridge, she was again reconsidering her decision to go to the bridge to make a formal damage report and to attempt any minor repairs. They had power from the warp core now - so that meant they could get the industrial replicators online and began shoring up Cygnus in earnest. Once she got to the bridge she would discuss the temporary re-assignment of any crew that held engineering certifications to help affect repairs.

As she climbed the laddering to get up to the deck that held the bridge, the world shifted on her again. She gripped the ladder hard to remain upright and screwed her eyes shut as a nauseating wave of vertigo overtook her again. She really should get to sickbay, but there were so many critical repairs...a ship needed her Chief Engineer. Light poured through the hatch opening above her; apparently other members of the crew had used this access point before her.

T'Lara allowed for a few grounding breaths before continuing up the rungs until she shimmied out of the hatch opening which deposited her on the bridge. She got up to her knees and looked around. The bridge had been utterly 'trashed,' and now that there was full lighting (from what lights were still upright and receiving power), the full scope of the damages was on display. For possibly the 15th--or was it the 16th--time, T'Lara inwardly commented that they were going to need a space dock to repair all of this. It was nigh on overwhelming.

With a few panting exhales, T'Lara pushed herself upright and immediately leaned backwards against the bulkhead until ungodly spinning stopped. In the brighter lighting of the bridge, the damage the engineer sustained was far more clear. The left side of her face was a vivid purple-green of a large bruise. Dried blood coated her cheek and neck, and the whole left side of her shoulder and chest was discolored from the profuse bleeding from the laceration she sustained when her head impacted...something. The small device attached to the left side of her forehead beeped and chirped while it monitored the bleeding in her brain, and the dressing Dr. Becker placed over the burr hole made in the most extreme circumstances was saturated with blood. The goal, for the moment, was to get functionality restored to the damaged consoles on the bridge...one step at a time.

The Captain was the first to see her emerge, as everyone else had been busy with rudimentary repairs, or medical assistance. "Sweet Prophets," he exclaimed, approaching her. "You've been beat to hell! Must be that Vulcan physiology keeping you going. What happened to you?"

"We do not have the luxury..." I do not have the luxury, she inwardly amended, "To stop currently. Once...once the ship is out of imminent danger..." It was logical, and not only that, it was imperative to continue, regardless of her physical state. "Um..." T'Lara faltered, realizing she didn't answer his question...his voice...the captain? She was unsure, and the confusion showed on her face.

"Are you the captain? Bane? I do not not know...I awoke on the deck of main engineering." She pushed herself away from the bulkhead and was satisfied that she did not fall flat on her face. Small victory to be celebrated.

Bane furrowed his brow and put his left hand on her right shoulder, reassuringly. "Yes, of course it's me. T'Lara, you're hurt. You've done a marvelous and miraculous job getting main power back online. You've given us a fighting chance to live another day. You need to get to Sickbay. You're hurt pretty badly," the Captain stated, his eyes going to the bandage and device. It was clear she had some medical help, but she needed a lot more.

"I don't remember...comms...were on the list you gave me. We...no one knows, do they?" It was difficult to hold a conversation at this juncture. She continued to run the list of 'things to do' in her head. It was the motivation to keep going, but the captain's words intruded in that ongoing line of thought, 'hurt pretty badly,' he had said...but the doctor said she had stabilized...she said other things too, but they were lost to memory. The beeping and chirping on the device attached to her head was beginning to annoy her. T'Lara raised her left hand to pry the thing off but found that it didn't work very well, she was forced to give up.

"I do not believe I will be able to make it to sickbay...the most logical course then...repair...repair what I can here before...best chance to survive...comms...the shuttle has comms..."

Bane was having difficulty understanding her, but did pick up on the shuttles. "Yeah, we thought of that, but the Shuttle bays Operations Officer has let us know the shuttles were torn from their mooring and heavily damaged." He pivoted. "Have you heard anything from Lieutenant Hartley, by chance?"

Hartley? T'Lara raised a brow in confusion. She could not recall any Hartley, nor had anyone mentioned that name. Brows furrowing she shook her head negative. "I have not...no shuttle." She continued shaking her head slightly. No functioning shuttle, no communications to the outside world. She couldn't think of anything additional to attempt regarding that. The thought of inspecting the shuttlecraft to see if the comm array was intact or could even be repaired had not been offered up. Her resiliency was at it's end.

"I'm...sorry, captain." She said in an increasingly slurred tone. "I cannot...not..." The world was starting to go grey as she lost her ability to form anymore words. No. This was not supposed to happen. She had to perform her duties! Gritting her teeth in last-ditch determination, T'Lara went to take a step, but her leg did not hold her weight and she collapsed forward into Bane. The small device on her head began to trill in an alarming tone, but it didn't give her any information she did not already have in her possession. The affected artery was hemorrhaging again, and T'Lara had failed her ship and her fellow crew.

"Commander...Ahmad...tell...love..." Were her last words before her head started rhythmically jerk, which then progressed to the rest of her limbs as the increasing pressure in her skull set off an electrical misfiring that manifested itself as a tonic-clonic seizure.

Bane caught her as she fell forward into him, and lowered her body to the deck carefully, surprised at just how light she was. He yelled out to anyone on the bridge that were listening. "Medical Emergency! I need help over here," he commanded. He desperately didn't want to lose yet another crewmember. Poor L'Lara Ahmad was so seriously injured, and there was nothing Bane could do for her, other than to call for help...

[Fade to Black]

=====

Ensign T'Lara Ahmad
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Captain Bane Plase
USS Cygnus, Commanding

 

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